story from Egypt

*just copy and paste from one yahoogroup to share with everybody out there.

From: Hadil El-Khouly <hadil.elkhouly@ gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 6:17 PM
Subject: [vpmcentral] Update 2 from Egypt
To:

Dear Friends,

Yesterday I went to Tahrir square with my whole family, Mom, dad and my two
younger sisters.
As we approached the square we watched thousands marching towards the
square, many of whom carried bags with food for protesters.We got down and
marched with them till we reached a long queue of people who were getting
inspected by regular youth before entering the square, to make sure no
weapons or any harmful material. The military was there as well and checked
our ID's.

That day in Tahrir we numbered to at least 2 Million. Just observing the
scene there seemed as if everyone had an unspoken determination to resist
Mubarak's" divide and conquer" strategy.
Sunday was announced as the day of "martyrs" in commemoration of all the
protesters who fell since the start of the revolution.
We witnessed the Sunday Coptic Mass and the Muslim Prayer, with both Father
and Sheikh sending prayers of blessings for the people's uprising, and
people marching and chanting with the Cross and the Qur'an.
Women and girls were hand in hand with men and boys who volunteered to clean
up the square and run the field hospital.

Perhaps one of the most telling scenes was the marriage ceremony ( niqah) in
the middle of the square between two people who allegedly met during the
protests. The whole crowd joined in prayers for them. When the new bride
spoke she said: "This square has turned into my home and all of you became
my family, I will not find a people more precious than all of you to share
my marriage happiness with than you".

I never felt safer in a crowd of 2 Million people in my life than
yesterday.Sexual harrassment turned sadly into a reality that accompanied
any public gathering in Egypt. This is the same Egypt where today I could
stand alone in the middle of a crowd with men passing behind and in front of
me without having the slightest fear and not even a single gaze
or inappropriate remark.
A young man who accidentally was pushed slightly against my sister turned
around and was extremely apologetic. When a group of us young women stood
together ,young men gradually started forming a chain around us to protect
us, as the masses of people increased.

Abdel-Halim Kandil, a famous political activist and coordinator of the
Kefaya political pro-democracy movement, spoke to the crowds yesterday about
the process of change, and that as we demand the change of the system we
must change as well.
This change is already happening... .

As I'm writing you this update, one of the Satellite TV channels is now
posting the picture one by one of each martyrer who were killed in cold
blood by the regime of Mubarak,most of them 16 and 17 year old, the youngest
being killed is a 10 year old boy with two bullets in his body.Rest in piece
my brothers and sisters...

Hadil