A few years ago I “met” a young
woman (through Facebook), born and raised in Cairo.
We have carried on many conversations throughout that time, and I
came to learn that she is not only emotionally strong, but
strong-willed! When considering who to interview, she was one of the
first to come to mind. (The only changes I have made in her answers
are minor, spelling, for ease of reading.) And now, I'd like to
introduce my friend Nan from Cairo...
Thanks so much for agreeing to be
interviewed. I'm looking forward to this! I think my first question
to you would be this: You are a young woman in the chaotic city of
Cairo, which is going through a tremendously tough time right now,
relatively newly married and with a baby boy. Do you consider your
life in Cairo to be much different from life for any other young
woman in other large cities?
I can't really tell whether it is
different or not .. I didn't live much with the same circumstances in
any other city, but as you said we are going through real hard times
now. Marriage was somehow going peacefully at the beginning, although
working and taking care of my home were not easy, but it was ok and I
was managing. Things started to get harder with the revolution that
occurred 6 months after...
Being married has magnified the
trouble.
How so?
First of all, I am responsible
about home expenses and with the continuous increase of prices of
everything, worries rise in the air about are we going to be able to
live at the same level tomorrow? Will we be able to provide our son
a good comfortable life? Given that I stopped working and I am
home since pregnancy, for about a year and a half now, and my husband
is supporting us all. God bless him. Moreover, when I was single I
didn't care much about safety – though Egypt before revolution was
the safest city you can ever walk around, even at 3 am – but now it
is gone. I only go out with my husband or to my mother and in laws
homes, otherwise no, and I never go out after sunset. It is not safe
anymore. Thugs and troubles and protests are everywhere and almost on
a weekly basis.
Cairo is a tough city, an expensive one,
you must keep running to be able to live good. And we are already
doing our best.
When you said, however, that you can
now only go out with your husband or to your mother and in-laws
homes, what do you mean? The safety aspect, in what way? As a female,
or is it the cover/no-cover?
No no I didn't mean that. The
government might be Islamist, and hijab is worn by the majority of
Muslim girls in Egypt BUT there is nothing such as Afganistan
burka or anyone forced to wear it by the government. The majority of
girls wear fashionable hijab, and I actually prefer to call it
ehtesham which means conservative clothes, like nuns for example.
I meant about the SAFETY. The streets of
Cairo aren't safe any more. I admit it – during the ruling of
Mubarak and the tyranny of the police, we were living safe. The
police were sometimes crossing limits but to keep the lowlifes and
thugs away from the streets.
What do people want? Safety and food ..
freedom is a luxury.
Even though obviously you adore your
son and love your husband, do you miss your working life?
TERRIBLY. I had been working from 2000
until 2011, over ten years, reaching a high position
as I was the head of the research and market intelligence department in a
reputable government entity. I used to work with chairmen and CEOs
and ministers, and suddenly all of this is gone. I discovered that I
was with a baby and not just pregnant but high risk pregnancy because I
had a fibroid that may cause abortion, so I had to stay home under
medical supervision (luckily my husband is an OBGYN). So after going
out every day, I just stayed home to cook, clean, take care of my
hubby and my baby.
One of the things that annoys me the
most is that I am used to having my own money, spending it as I wish.
Now I have to ask, but I consider myself lucky because my hubby is not
that kind of man who considers that his wife's salary is his. And
actually I don't ask for money – he gives me what I need even
before asking. Other women suffer. I had a friend whose husband takes
her salary and gives her an allowance, barely enough for her needs,
and makes an issue if she spends on something for her. There are women
who stay home and have to be dependant on their husbands. They
suffer because their men use money as a way to control and oppress
them.
I also miss the dynamism of the day,
meeting people, knowing stories of other people, events, going here and
there, attending meetings and conferences. But now I have a fixed
schedule. Routine is killing me, and there is nothing much to do.
That is why I love virtual games. They take me to other colorful
places. I hate to be dependant, but my husband always says "you are
paying your share by taking care of our son instead of putting him in
a day care and spending money, and he might get ill" and so on. One thing
I have to tell you. Day care here is usually an apartment in a
building with no sun or playground. It is more like a place to lock
kids till their parents are back from work, and honestly I won't feel
good if my baby is in one of these. Anyway, it may be a matter of
time, then I'll go back. Work isn't my life, but staying at home isn't the
same either.
Thinking back to the "revolution"
in Cairo, when the citizens took to the streets and accomplished an
amazing feat. In this day and age of instant communication and
social networking, what was it like to be cut off from the world?
Would you describe it more as scary or exciting?
No one ever thought that this call for
a demonstration on the 25th of January will ever work. Many did it
before and failed. We lived 18 days of constant thrill, fear and
loads of waiting. Every home in Egypt barely got any sleep. After the
first week of the revolution, all government entities asked the
employees to stay home because there might be attacks on the buildings,
and during this chaos you barely knew who was innocent or not. Add to
that the opening of the prisons by Hamas and helped by the Muslim
brotherhood to free prisoners, and continuous attacks on police
stations -- usually by thugs and criminals -- and you would hear that many
people were attacked on the streets, not from the revolutionists but
from thugs and criminals released onto the streets.
Among all of this, communication was
out. We were blacked out. Thank god there were landlines to call
our families and friend, and we sat in front of the tv not moving. It
was scary especially that my hubby had to go to work. One morning he woke me up and told me "we must leave now." He took me
to my mother and went to work; he then went to his mother because she
is living alone. So I keep waiting for a phone call on the landline
at the end of the day. Cutting communication was the stupidest
thing someone can do because it encouraged people to go more and more
in the streets to know what is going on live – after all tv doesn't
broadcast everything.
Such a time. I didn't sleep or eat. I
was just praying for the safety of everyone I know.
