8 years ago
8 years ago, it was a Friday, different one than I ever had,
woke up that morning filled with excitement, fear, hope and a wish, things would change, and we could say something about the future of this country (Egypt),
a spark of the revolution started on 25th of Jan, I was not sure what’s going on, or if it was really going to change something, but this time it was different.
since the 25th Nothing but revolutionary talks for that first 3 days(and the following 3 years :D), what’s happening is new for us ,peaceful protests in Tahrir square, thousands of people didn’t leave the square, demanding freedom, and equality, more calls through facebook and twitter, for bigger protests on Friday to support the demands of the people and mainly support the change, me and 3 friends decided to participate on that Friday 28th known as (The Friday of Anger), on Thursday morning we talked about where would be our meeting point to start on Friday, luckily we did that because Thursday evening the government shut down all the communications in the country no internet, no mobile phones, I couldn’t believe it, they did that, trying to stop more people from going to the streets, but it was stupid move, more people felt rage and went out and participated,
so, I woke up getting ready, excited, afraid and suddenly got the thoughts already I might not come back, no one knows what will happen, how the government will react, security forces everywhere, some people were attacked on Tahrir square before Friday trying to kick them out. through my fear and thoughts, in case I didn’t make it back home, I wanted to make sure why I’m participating why I am going out demonstrating against the regime at that time, then I actually thought of my family, (my younger sisters and brother), thought about my kids (in the future if I would ever have them), I thought that I wanted them to grow up in a country where justice is preserved, a place where they know they won’t be mistreated, a place where they would feel safe, where their human rights would be respected, where they can be free, where everybody is equal, where they would have a better tomorrow than our today. another thing I thought about before going out, is this might be the one chance I would ever have to stand up with pride in the future and say we did it, we made this country better, we liberated it, my chance to let my fear out.
so my decision is still on with more faith, no turning back, my dad was out of the country at that time, my mom started to cry asking me to not go and stay home and how it is unsafe, but I couldn’t just stay, I wouldn’t ever forgive myself if I didn’t participate in this, if I didn’t stand for what is right.
11:30 am it is and I am leaving the house to meet my friends, we went to Friday prayers as the protests were to kick off after the prayers, and oh my god what happens this day was an experience I never and would ever imagined to have and witness, marching the streets and seeing a protest start with few hundreds and growing to hundreds of thousands, the unity I saw, young, old , men and women, all side to side, saying the same thing, moving forward from a street to another trying to reach Tahrir square, police fired teargas bombs at us, and we continue on, and nothing stopping this, and now I see this scene in my head again and again, I arrived at Al Galaa square, one square before Tahrir Square where there is more opposition from security forces, we were a lot of people but not enough to continue on the bridge leading to Tahrir Square, then I saw the most mesmerizing thing I ever saw, the flow of tens of thousands of people merging together with us from the other 2 directions on that square, so now all these people coming from all directions against the police enforcement forbidding the entry of the bridge, they were conquered back and people moved on forward to Tahrir square, they couldn’t stop us.
That night Tahrir square became Home for a lot of the most honorable people this country knew, young people who gave their lives and much more who were ready to give theirs too, hoping for the best for Egypt.
although our dream didn’t turn out as we expect, our hope faded away, but This day 28-01-2011 was a noble day, and will always be there in history proving if people unite, things can change, I would be always grateful, I was there at this place at this time, with these people.