I had the honor of talking to Salwa, a woman who lives in Egypt and her father lives in the United States. Her husband participated in the protests earlier this month. She expressed her hopes and the realities about living in Egypt before and after the revolution.
staunTEENS: How do you feel about your husband being in the protests?
Salwa: I was extremely happy and proud when my husband decided he would also go down to Tahrir and join in the protests. I myself really wanted to go, but I was concerned about leaving my 3 year old daughter with a friend because of how unpredictable the situation seemed, and worried that I would not be able to get back to her if things turned dangerous or a tighter curfew would be imposed. Seeing how many people actually did go and fill the streets in such a peaceful way was one of the most beautiful and moving thing I have ever witnessed. One reason it was so impressive, which people in the United States may have a hard time grasping fully, is that prior to these days the fear of speaking out was so strong and permeated every aspect of freedom of expression. My mother used to tell me, even when I was in a taxi I should not speak about politics or about the regime even in English, because it was very possible that the taxi driver was actually a spy for the regime and it was a true reality to have as a result of speaking out that secret police would come to your door in the middle of the night and take you away...to who knows where and to do who knows what. It could be very dangerous for you and your family.
staunTEENS: How did your husband become involved with the protests? Is he involved on Facebook?
Salwa: Although my husband is on Facebook, I don't believe his involvement and decision to go protest came from that source of organization and inspiration. Simply seeing on TV that so many people were going to protest, that the regime was still not stepping down, and that there were calls for more people to come and support the movement made him believe that change was possible and that he should be there with his people.
staunTEENS: Has daily life changed for you since the protests? How?
Salwa: Daily life on the surface seems to be getting back to normal, people are going back to work and school, shops are open and business running. But what has really changed is very intangible. Today at work we had a political discussion about who is in favor of which potential presidential candidate, I have never seen this happen before in this country. All of the people in my office, when discussions of an election came up, would just shrug and say "Why vote? It will not make a difference anyway." This change in people's attitudes really speaks volumes about how people feel about taking control of their country and their lives.
In order to explain further, I must first describe a bit what life on the streets of Cairo was like before the Revolution...Cairo is a huge city, there was very little garbage collection and it was everywhere in the streets. Getting anywhere in the city was a total struggle, the streets are packed with cars, trucks pedestrians, donkey carts and microbuses, and because so many people were so desperate - for everything, and mainly to just make it through the day scaping a living together, people would just sort of keep their heads down and push their way through life. During my time at home when I could not go out and protest, I wrote to different websites such as that of CNN and the White House to try and get people to understand how Egyptians were suffering. Here are some very realistic scenarios of people I wrote about that I would encounter everyday:
An woman has injured her leg when she fell doing heavy cleaning during her work as a maid. She goes to work still every day, limping and in constant pain, because she must try to earn enough to feed her family since her husband has passed away and none of her children are old enough yet to earn a significant amount of money. If she goes to a public hospital she may still have to pay, small as it is, and she will have to wait for hours for someone to see her, and most likely they will just tell her she must not work for a while, and give her a prescription for pain relievers, or something to help with the swelling, that is ineffective anyway because it has been diluted by the pharmaceutical companies. So instead of letting her leg heal by resting it, she works, and it gets worse and she just lives with daily pain. How would you feel if this woman was your mother?
A young boy is riding in a microbus when a speeding mercedes cuts off the microbus causing the bus driver to swerve and hit a large chunk of cement left lying in the road. The microbus overturns and the young boy is killed. The man driving the mercedes has contacts with the police or government, he mentions their names at the scene of the accident and is promptly let go with no further action taken against him. The family is distraught, but there is no one to turn to. There is no counseling available to the family to get through their grief, and nothing they can do to stop it from happening again to someone else. How would you feel if this young boy was your little brother?
A mother and father have a young girl with a heart problem. In order to pay for her medical care, and for her schooling as no adequate school will accept the girl with her condition, the father must work in a nearby city away from his family. On a late night drive back home to see his family for the weekend, his car runs into something in the road and he is brought to a hospital in critical condition. There is no proper facility for surgery at this hospital so he is taken to another. On the way in the ambulance his heart stops and there is no defibrullator - a basic piece of equipment - to restart his heart. They take the father to the nearest hospital, which it turns out also does not have a defibrullator, and the doctor, unable to save the man, breaks down in tears.
Although the first two are very realistic hypotheticals, this last scenario is the true story of my friend Rowida. Every day things like these were happening. There was such a feeling of just trying to scrape by, just trying to live, and that people must fight for themselves to survive everyday. This is what it is like to live under a dictatorship, where all the money for public works are stolen by a greedy few and where people are too terrified to speak out. Little to no money was going into public hospitals and medicine, into roads to keep them safe, to police to earn a decent wage so they didn't have to take bribes, and to schools. Even lack of proper garbage collection produces such a feeling of depression and lack of pride when you see the garbage all over the streets, in between the buildings and in every empty lot.
Although there is so much to do, so much to fix, so far to go, the change in the feeling on the street is amazing. Driving around, although there is still so much traffic, you can feel that people are happier; people are curtious and thinking of others, you don't have to fight your way through intersections and on the roads, people are not aggressively honking in anger and frustration. The city is so much quieter. And it is cleaner. Starting the day after Mubarak stepped down, not only were all the street cleaners out with carts and trucks, private citizens came out and for days now I have seen them cleaning the streets, bagging up the garbage, painting lightposts, signs and even the curbs. And not just in Tahrir, but all over. We have a lot of work in front of us, but for the first time in the lives of many Egyptians there is hope. I think every Egyptian feels it.
staunTEENS: Do you have any fears or concerns about the future of Egypt?
Salwa: I don't know, maybe I am naive, but I just can't believe it could be any worse than what it was. I feel for the honest people who have lost their jobs or businesses, and I hope that the change comes quickly enough for them to recover.
staunTEENS: What can the young people in America learn from what has happened in Egypt?
Salwa: I believe that many Americans, young and old, can learn that as a people Egyptians are very peaceful and kind.
(...) I think it's important for Americans to understand - Egypt has no need for religious division, we are a people seeking self-worth, self-determination, and justice and peace in our daily lives.
I am so hopeful that what has happened here in Egypt can be the begining of a movement to change so much in the rest of the world.
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