Reflections of Leaving Cairo

There is so much truth in "No one understands something unless they have gone through it."  Dave and I spent Friday January 28th through Sunday January 31st wondering if we should stay in Cairo or leave.  The actual protesting started on the previous Tuesday, on an Egyptian holiday.  The college students have protests often, usually one day and then it is over.  Then Friday everything changed.  That is the Muslim Holy Day and the protesting got serious after their noon prayer.  We sat glued to the TV and watching the protestors, looting, and feeling some what nervous.   Thursday eve. was the last time we had internet and Friday morning we did not have cell phones.

We found that the Egyptian people passed on most of the protesting information via Facebook and Twitter.  That is how they increased their numbers by notifying as many Egyptians to join in as possible.  Newscasters were calling it the Facebook revolution.  I am really not sure about Facebook!

What bothered me most through the isolation with no internet or cell phones is the fact that we had our friends cell phone numbers, but when our cell phones quit working, we couldn't contact them, that left me with a feeling I never experienced before.  It was something I am sure no Americans had ever experienced.   Saturday morning we felt we needed to go see our friends Jeff and Cathy.  We had a land line and so did Jeff and Cathy, but we had never exchanged numbers because we only had those lines for internet.   They lived about 15 miles away.  We were apprehensive, but felt we needed to make the trip.  Jeff's company, General Dynamics, had a presence of 35 or more employees in Cairo, they had the support, we had none.   We just wanted to be able to talk to other Americans and know what their company was suggesting they do.   They actually had people from their companay in charge of security.

We started out on our trip to Maadi, where Jeff and Cathy live.  We felt if we had trouble with the car we wouldn't know what to do as we had no cell phones.  We were driving along, Dave usually took the back way to Maadi by taking the exit by the department store Carrefour.  As we got closer we looked over and saw cars lined up with people out of their cars looking over the side where Carrefour is.  We decided there was problem and Dave went a different route to Jeff and Cathy's.  We found out later there definitely was a problem.  Looters had broken into the store and four people were killed.  As we entered Maadi, where Jeff and Cathy live, we noticed there were no police officers.  That is very unusual for Maadi. 

We made it to Jeff and Cathy's and we were so glad we finally had some one to talk to.  Their company was having a security meeting that day around one.  We did exchange land line phone numbers. We stopped and got a few groceries and then headed back to our flat.  We knew the police officers had been pulled off duty.  The military was put in charge.  The military arrived down town with tanks and we also heard them pulling into our area.  That makes for a very unsettling feeling.  We sat and watched.  We knew if the military did nothing to control the looters, the demonstrators, or were not keeping the country in order we needed to leave and quickly. 

I spent the days, cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry.  I just stayed busy.  I tried to keep my mind busy.  The last day I went outside and drew pictures with Hattie, the little Egyptian girl who lived next door, and colored them.  As the time wore on and the neighborhoods were putting groups together to guard the homes at night and putting up makeshift barriers I just kept feeling more and more uneasy. 

Dave had been in contact with Oshkosh but we were waiting until we felt that we needed to leave.  When they started the looting in our area we knew it was time.  Soon there would be no food......and our flat may eventually be broken into for food or anything they could take for money.  Of course that is still a concern, especially with us not there. 

To make a long story short, we had a little trouble obtaining a flight after we started searching.  Dave's boss was the one who contacted people in Dubai and was able to get us out on a charter flight.  If it wasn't for Dave's boss and his knowledge of these situations I am not sure what would have happened. 

I have met three other families here in the Hilton in Dubai, from Exxon/Mobil. They were evacuated also.  I talked to one of the wives today and she said that her son, who is 13, had a melt down today.  Just a lot of unknown in his world.  They said they heard gun shots where they were, we never did.  Their son had been scared,  they left in a hurry leaving all of their possesions behind, now he is here, no school, and not knowing what the future holds.  No doubt shaking a young boy's core. 

Just had to add this to the blog...... all of this still weighs heavy in our hearts.  

Next posting will be pictures of Dubai.  It is beautiful here, but there is no place like home!!!!!!