Salim has made it to Egypt from Tripoli.\u00a0 He phoned on Saturday afternoon, it was so good to hear his voice! I was not sure if he was one hour from our home, one hour from the border, or at his home which was one hour away!\u00a0 No matter, such confusions are usual with so little language in common, but never got in the way of a friendship.<\/p>\n
I texted him our house address, and today when I came home he was waiting.\u00a0 Luckily I had a friend with me who speaks Egyptian so we sat, took tea, and listened to his story.\u00a0 Boris our cat, never one usually to be demonstrative, was overjoyed to see him again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were accused of being behind the demonstrations by some Libyans, and of being mercenaries by others, it was very dangerous\u201d he says. \u201cI stayed four days at the airport, but there were so\u00a0 many people there, some who had been there one week already.\u00a0 So many people and no planes, no food, no water and it was cold.\u00a0 I went back to my home,\u201d<\/p>\n
For ten terrifying days he stayed there, afraid to go out for food and hearing gunfire nearby every night.\u00a0 A Libyan neighbour sent him food which he paid them for.\u00a0 The Korean and German ambassador residences nearby were looted and burned by mobs because they were owned by relatives of Gadaffi.\u00a0 He went back to the airport.<\/p>\n
Some 8000 Egyptians waited at the airport.\u00a0 The two EgyptAir flights per day increased to five and then seven.\u00a0 Families had priority, but 50 single men could leave per day.\u00a0 After three days he got out.\u00a0 The flight was free with a fee of LE100 (approx US$80) per person to the Libyan authorities \u2013 those who did not have it had to wait.<\/p>\n
Other nationalities were less fortunate than the Egyptians, but there were also fewer of them there – Nigeria, Niger and Ghana sent some planes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Salim has made it to Egypt from Tripoli.\u00a0 He phoned on Saturday afternoon, it was so good to hear his voice! I was not sure if he was one hour from our home, one hour from the border, or at … Continue reading