Internet black out, Revolution, Fighting police thugs week I'm alive, thanks to Baba's sexism (God did I really say that? I'm stupid sometimes, I apologize) But the part about Egypt redefining woman is true Egypt is redefining Egyptian I'm so proud and so sad Haven't been able to sleep for a while thanks to Mubarak's "looters" who happened to be driving police vehicles attacking our houses every night It's funny, Baba didn't want to go at first and then when he finally wanted to be there the car and gas station ran out of petrol. We're literally physically stuck now--but I'm so glad to be stuck here, the past week has made me really love this town. Why? Okay...so everybody has their-- "crazy thing Mubarak did the past week" story Mine is this: Thankfully our community in the suburbs of Cairo is really amazing. On the 28th the Friday prayer was about Pharaoh (Mubarak) and his loyal servants (the Goons)despite the government's urges to make the khutba (sermon) about obeying the ruler. Afterwards a member of the NDP (ruling party) stood up, announced himself and tried to make a speech I say tried because everybody instantly said "BE QUIET, WE DONT WANT TO HEAR THAT NONSENSE IN HERE" the second he announced who he was, and they then proceeded to throw him out :) After everything that happened in the heart of the city, our neighbors all had the foresight to organize a neighborhood watch Apparently some of our neighbors happened to be armed-- I thought I was a pacifist but when at three in the morning an announcement blared through the town saying "The thugs and looters are at the gas station, everyone to the gas station" The thought of people on our side with guns was pretty reassuring That was also the night we discovered that the soldiers in the military base next to us were on our side, as well as some local police who took off their uniforms and joined the watch The next day the gas station ran out of gas and the stores ran out of supplies really really quickly (the goons were instructed to loot supply trucks) But by then everybody was already sharing, one of our neighbors raises chickens-- we all started mentally preparing ourselves to eat only eggs till Mubarak steps down (I didn't have to prepare much, eggs are my favorite :)) That isn't all we were sharing either, we started sharing information--after some investigation we discovered that the announcement, which we initially thought had come from the mosque (which was part of our neighborhood watch), was actually from a police car's loudspeakers to make everyone panic or run to the gas station, presumably so they could round us up Some sleepless nights of gunfire later, we started getting used to the drill. We no longer slept with shoes on and began to feel a little safer. Although our neighbors were starting to falter and wonder if enough is enough. The next morning we talked to our friendly neighborhood soldiers who informed us that they had made an arrest. We figured more looters in stolen vehicles with guns and stabby things. We figured wrong. Two thugs in a police truck (of course) brought two LIVE LIONS to our town-- they confessed to attempting to fake a zoo breakout. Which besides being ridiculous for obvious reasons is ridiculous because our town is on the outskirts of the city and nowhere near the zoo geographically. That was the point when my neighborhood collectively decided Mubarak was psycho and had to go. Now that the internet's back up, I've been trying to spread information like I was before-- get in contact with my friends--some of whom lost their lives, some of whom were missing for a while (a few hours ago they were released) I feel like such a useless nothing for not being out there when my friends are, but at the same time I'm happy that I can give them information and find safe routes for them This all got really complicated really fast I really hate him, we all hate him, by now we've all been personally attacked by him-- but my friends keep reminding me to stay peaceful And I want to because I dont want his ugliness to turn me ugly inside I saw people standing up for strangers, cleaning the road, being kind to each other in a way I didn't think was possible anymore I love our people. And he will have his day in court for crimes against humanity. The most important change was the one we made inside ourselves. In Tahrir, people from all kinds of religions and backgrounds were just...hanging out! That wasn't a dream! It really happened! |