Note: This post was written in August of 2012, but I refrained from posting it to spare our family and friends a year's worth of worry about our safety. Now that we are home we can tell the story.
Last weekend we were invited to go with one of my husband's co-workers, 'Dave', on a trip to the Siwa oasis. This oasis is about an eight hour drive from Cairo. Dave has lived here in Egypt for three years and lived in Iraq for three years before that. He knows the Middle East and Arabic very well so he knew what would be needed for such a long trip. We had a very nice van, an excellent driver (the best the tour company had), and a security guard to go with us on this trip. We had to get special permission from the Embassy security office to go so far out of the city, but they were satisfied with the arrangements Dave had made. As it turned out, it was fortuitous that Dave had worked so hard to make these exact plans.
We left on Thursday afternoon from the Embassy in Cairo. It took us a good two hours to get out of the city because Friday was the start of a big Muslim holiday- Eid al Fitr. This is the celebration of the end of Ramadan and many Egyptians were either returning home from spending Ramadan with family, or going on holiday for the weekend. The traffic was bad even by Cairo standards.
The city streets turned into a major six-lane highway just at the edge of Cairo. The traffic speed picked up even though the road was still very crowded. Our driver was being conservative by staying in the right-hand part of the road (lanes, even though clearly marked, are taken merely as suggestions by all Egyptian drivers). I was reading a book and happened to glance up at one point. I think I must have immediately closed my eyes, because all that I saw was a large tractor trailer on the left side of the van and a group of men around a broken-down car on the right side, standing in the road. Our driver started honking furiously as the tractor trailer moved more to the right, squeezing our van towards the men. I heard a dull thump and our van pulled to a stop.
The driver said something quickly to the guard and bailed out of the van. The guard immediately pulled a weapon out from under the seat, bailed out the other side of the van and locked all the doors. All too soon we knew what happened. The screams we heard outside confirmed that our van had hit one of the men. Once we were able to speak again, the two guys said that they had actually seen the man being thrown along the side of the van as we passed. We found out later that the headlight on that side and the wing mirror were both destroyed. There was a line of spittle along the side window, left by the man's face as it slid across.
Both the driver and the guard were on their cell phones within seconds, and Dave was not far behind in calling the Embassy security. The biggest concern of everyone in our party was that three Americans had been involved in a potentially fatal traffic accident. Within the city limits it is highly likely in these situations that a flash mob will form and all those seen at fault will be assaulted. We were extremely lucky to be both outside the city limits and to have a security guard with a weapon. Both those things kept the situation from escalating. The embassy security office called every few minutes while we were waiting on the side of the road to make sure that things were remaining calm.
Our driver had a medical kit and did his best to stabilize the injured man while an ambulance arrived. Our guard stayed next to our door with his gun out the whole time. All the window screens were closed in the van. I thought at the time this was to keep us from seeing what was going on, but I was informed later that this was so that no one could see that it was Americans sitting in the van.
After the ambulance left, the driver and guard called the tour company and had a long discussion with them. The embassy security called one last time and was satisfied that we were safe. We were given permission to continue with our trip. As we pulled back into traffic the driver asked if we were ok and we assured him that we were. His closing remark to this adventure was, 'I'm am sorry it happened, but this is normal in Egypt.'
From what we can tell, there is no such thing as insurance here- medical or driver's- and very few, if any, lawsuits. At no time were any police to be found anywhere nearby. We think that the driver got the injured man's information and that the tour company may pay something towards his medical costs, but we will never know how the story ended for him. We are hoping he survived and will be well.
As scary as this event was, we are also reassured about our safety here. When everyone's energy should have been focused on the injured man, nearly everyone involved was working to ensure our own safety instead. Although no Egyptian police showed up, if we had needed them, we would have had American embassy security on the scene within minutes. Since these types of accidents seem to be a regular occurrence, we are extremely fortunate to have had a driver and guard who knew what to do, reacted calmly and rationally, and kept the situation from getting out of hand. And as we will now never stand around in a major highway (on the very off chance we might one day have!), we are not afraid for our own safety on the roads.
Update: Our friend who traveled with us ended up with the same driver again about a week later. The driver said that he went to visit the injured man in the hospital and the worst thing that happened to him was that he had a concussion and a broken leg. We were so happy to know that he was alive and will recover completely!
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Evacuation Stories
On June 29th Washington D.C. called an optional evacuation for the State Department employees and their families in Cairo. At that point there was a general feeling that the evacuation was more of a political maneuver than a serious security concern. The Benghazi situation was still fresh on everyone's mind. Nevertheless, most people decided they should get out while they had the opportunity, just in case. Since my husband and I were only three weeks from leaving Cairo permanently we decided we should just wait it out. Trying to move back to the U.S. while being evacuated would be very complicated!
As you no doubt know, things got rather messy in Cairo in the following days. After having kept all of us indoors for 10 days (except for essential employees who needed to get to work), the State Department decided to go ahead and evacuate the rest of us. The decision was made on July 3rd and we were told we would fly out on either the 4th or 5th, as soon as they could get us on a flight.
My husband's boss worked hard to get all of the spouses of his employees on the same flight. This delayed our evacuation a few hours so I got just about 36 hours to pack and try to organize our things for being moved in a few weeks. While at the time I thought I was being efficient and clear-minded, when I got to the States I was quite amused by some of the things that ended up in my suitcase. I had to do some clothes shopping almost right away. My husband was required to stay behind, so he had the unfortunate job of finishing up everything I couldn't get to— as well as continuing to work under very difficult circumstances.
On the day of our departure we were picked up in the embassy's armored vehicles and driven to the airport. In our group there were three spouses, a family with a four year old and a dog, and a college student who had been visiting his mother for the summer. While the roads seemed generally calm, we did have to stop at one military checkpoint near the airport. My Arabic wasn't up to the conversation our driver had with the soldiers (other than him telling the soldier we were all Americans), but one of the other Americans suggested that they may have been looking for Muslim Brotherhood members fleeing the country rather than trying to cause us any trouble. Whatever was said, we were soon allowed to go through and proceed to the airport. Once we were safely there, the flight home was uneventful.
Not everyone's evacuation went as smoothly as ours did. One of our friends was visiting family in England at the time and was expecting to be back in Cairo after a couple of weeks. Her husband was on a temporary assignment in yet another country. Neither of them are allowed to go back to Cairo to get things they didn't have with them, they have to go directly to Washington D.C. as soon as their trips are finished. Another of our friends left their dog and two cats in their apartment and made arrangements for a pet sitter to stop by twice a day. An evacuation must last at least 30 days by law and initially no one thought it would go any longer. Now it's looking like it will last several months and the poor animals are stuck in Cairo.
One rather ironic twist in the evacuation involves an American woman who married an Egyptian security guard at her building. When the evacuation came, she was considered an essential employee so she had to stay. The evacuation order applied to all other Americans and their families, however. So now the Egyptian husband is in Washington, D.C. and the American wife is stuck in Egypt!
Apparently there were several employees and family members attached to the embassy who flatly refused to be evacuated. As a mandatory evacuation is a direct order, these people are in serious trouble. Their diplomatic status is in danger of being revoked and they would be in Egypt illegally. The employees' jobs are in serious jeopardy. It seems unlikely that the Egyptian government would pursue these (potentially) illegal residents as they have much more serious problems to deal with, but they would be well within their rights to do so.
Most of the Cairo embassy community is now in D.C. waiting out the evacuation. Parents have been told to go ahead and enroll their children in school and everyone else is being encouraged to settle in for several months. In spite of it being Ramadan, things don't appear to be calming down quickly in Egypt. Most people are optimistic, however, that the vast majority of Egyptians who are politically moderate will eventually prevail. As our assignment will officially be over this coming week, my husband and I now have the pleasure of re-acquainting ourselves with all of the family, friends, and food that we sorely missed in the past year!
As you no doubt know, things got rather messy in Cairo in the following days. After having kept all of us indoors for 10 days (except for essential employees who needed to get to work), the State Department decided to go ahead and evacuate the rest of us. The decision was made on July 3rd and we were told we would fly out on either the 4th or 5th, as soon as they could get us on a flight.
My husband's boss worked hard to get all of the spouses of his employees on the same flight. This delayed our evacuation a few hours so I got just about 36 hours to pack and try to organize our things for being moved in a few weeks. While at the time I thought I was being efficient and clear-minded, when I got to the States I was quite amused by some of the things that ended up in my suitcase. I had to do some clothes shopping almost right away. My husband was required to stay behind, so he had the unfortunate job of finishing up everything I couldn't get to— as well as continuing to work under very difficult circumstances.
On the day of our departure we were picked up in the embassy's armored vehicles and driven to the airport. In our group there were three spouses, a family with a four year old and a dog, and a college student who had been visiting his mother for the summer. While the roads seemed generally calm, we did have to stop at one military checkpoint near the airport. My Arabic wasn't up to the conversation our driver had with the soldiers (other than him telling the soldier we were all Americans), but one of the other Americans suggested that they may have been looking for Muslim Brotherhood members fleeing the country rather than trying to cause us any trouble. Whatever was said, we were soon allowed to go through and proceed to the airport. Once we were safely there, the flight home was uneventful.
Not everyone's evacuation went as smoothly as ours did. One of our friends was visiting family in England at the time and was expecting to be back in Cairo after a couple of weeks. Her husband was on a temporary assignment in yet another country. Neither of them are allowed to go back to Cairo to get things they didn't have with them, they have to go directly to Washington D.C. as soon as their trips are finished. Another of our friends left their dog and two cats in their apartment and made arrangements for a pet sitter to stop by twice a day. An evacuation must last at least 30 days by law and initially no one thought it would go any longer. Now it's looking like it will last several months and the poor animals are stuck in Cairo.
One rather ironic twist in the evacuation involves an American woman who married an Egyptian security guard at her building. When the evacuation came, she was considered an essential employee so she had to stay. The evacuation order applied to all other Americans and their families, however. So now the Egyptian husband is in Washington, D.C. and the American wife is stuck in Egypt!
Apparently there were several employees and family members attached to the embassy who flatly refused to be evacuated. As a mandatory evacuation is a direct order, these people are in serious trouble. Their diplomatic status is in danger of being revoked and they would be in Egypt illegally. The employees' jobs are in serious jeopardy. It seems unlikely that the Egyptian government would pursue these (potentially) illegal residents as they have much more serious problems to deal with, but they would be well within their rights to do so.
Most of the Cairo embassy community is now in D.C. waiting out the evacuation. Parents have been told to go ahead and enroll their children in school and everyone else is being encouraged to settle in for several months. In spite of it being Ramadan, things don't appear to be calming down quickly in Egypt. Most people are optimistic, however, that the vast majority of Egyptians who are politically moderate will eventually prevail. As our assignment will officially be over this coming week, my husband and I now have the pleasure of re-acquainting ourselves with all of the family, friends, and food that we sorely missed in the past year!
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
A Coup?
Egypt's president Muhammad Morsi refused to comply to the demands imposed on him by the Tamurad (rebel) protest movement and the Egyptian army. At about 6:30pm this evening the military deployed into the streets of Cairo and throughout the rest of Egypt. It isn't clear at the moment whether this counts as a coup, but what is clear is that Morsi has lost everything except the name of president. He has been banned from traveling outside of the country and his cabinet and staff have left their positions. Here are some pictures of the massive protests the past few nights and the military deploying into Cairo (all downloaded from Twitter, we still aren't allowed to go out):
And here are some celebratory pictures. The Egyptians (most of them) seem to be ecstatic and have been driving around honking and celebrating for several hours now.
And here are some celebratory pictures. The Egyptians (most of them) seem to be ecstatic and have been driving around honking and celebrating for several hours now.
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