So the story of our evacuation. I’ve told it a bazillion times already, but I haven’t been able to put it in writing yet. Looking at the pictures reminds me that we’re really gone and because of how quickly it happened it doesn’t seem real yet. Looking through the pictures of our last week there feels like a whole different life.
So Josh and I were all fine and happy and cheering on the Egyptian people in their revolution and then we started hearing rumors of a possible evacuation. Honestly, we thought we weren’t even close to evacuation threat levels so it was quite a shock on Sunday morning when we go the call. OK, that’s not entirely true. We were lying in bed on Saturday night, listening to the Egyptian army firing artillery and shooting guns and I felt sick to my stomach because I knew that each blast was going to create more anxiety for people and increase the likelihood that we would have to leave.
We took breaks from packing to go sit in our yard and tried to calculate the odds of us being able to stay and debating whether that would be a stupid move or not. Josh gave it his best effort. He volunteered to stay, to do whatever anyone needed him to do, but in the end he was sent home with the women and children. Just kidding. That’s how he thought it was going to be, but there were plenty of other men who were sent home too. They determined that all “non-essential” personnel needed to evacuate.
Anyway, we found out at 11:30pm Sunday night that not only did we have to leave, but we had to be ready for a shuttle to pick us up at 8am the following morning. Less than 12 hours when we thought we had several days. We were each allowed to take 1 bag that weighed less than 44 lbs and 1 small carry on. And because it didn’t look likely that we would be able to return, we had to move everything we owned that wasn’t coming with us into one room in the house, increasing the odds that if someone else comes in to pack up our stuff to ship it back to us, that more of it will make it home.
It was a late night. This picture only shows part of it. By the end I was thinking that even if we could come back, would I really want to return to this mess? But then Josh reminded me that all we would have to do would be to call Madiha, and she would have everything back in place in a few hours.
Monday morning we were ready and waiting for the shuttle with all our neighbors. We ended up having plenty of time to kill, since we didn’t actually get picked up until 11.
Hanging out in the police shelter. All the cops disappeared a few days earlier so this structure, along with other random items were dragged into the streets at night to create barricades. Then all the boabs (doormen) patrolled the streets with knives, sticks, baseball bats to keep anyone out who didn’t belong.
Once the shuttle arrived we loaded all our bags and everyone crowded in — we were all sitting on top of each other, no seatbelts either. I considered the irony that the driving part of the evacuation process was probably more dangerous than staying put.
Once we were shuttled to the commissary compound we met up with other embassy evacuees who had been brought there from all over Maadi. Everyone had to check in, get their orders, grab some snacks and get on one of 7 buses. It looked like what I imagine a refugee camp would look like — if refugees had nice luggage.
