2011.02.12: February 12, 2011: Iran RPCV Patricia McKissick sees history unfolding in Cairo
Peace Corps Online:
Peace Corps News:
Library:
Peace Corps: Egypt:
2011.02.12: February 12, 2011: Iran RPCV Patricia McKissick sees history unfolding in Cairo
Iran RPCV Patricia McKissick sees history unfolding in Cairo
As they snapped photographs of the Nile Friday, Ms. Martin and Ms. McKissick also happened upon the Square, walking past barbed wire fencing as local women-turned-makeshift-security-guards calmly examined purses and passports. Minutes later, it happened. "It was like this sound erupted from many people as we were moving with them, and a man was next to me with a cell phone to his ear ... and he's saying, 'Mubarak gone!' 'Mubarak gone!' " said Ms. McKissick. She is a former Peace Corps volunteer to Iran who has spent two years traveling back and forth from Egypt, where her husband, John, worked. "It was a chorus of horns honking, waving flags, so we joined them all. Women smiling, crying. It's just wonderful."
Iran RPCV Patricia McKissick sees history unfolding in Cairo
Garfield resident, aunt see history unfolding in Cairo
Saturday, February 12, 2011
By Julie Percha, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Caption: Saturday, 12 February 2011, Day 1 Freedom - Victory in Tahrir Square Photo: Darla Hueske Flickr Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0)
After Garfield resident Elizabeth Martin studied architectural history at the University of Pittsburgh, the chance to travel to Egypt with her aunt seemed like a living trip through her old art history textbooks.
But Ms. Martin, 26, never dreamed that on her first visit to Egypt, she'd be witnessing the next chapter in the nation's history unfold.
It's absolutely incredible," Ms. Martin said from her guesthouse apartment in Zamalek, an island on the Nile River fewer than two miles from Cairo's Tahrir Square.
Outside, crowds brandishing red, black and white Egyptian flags flooded the streets, while sounds of incessant car horns and calls of "Alhamdulillah!" -- "Praise be to God!" -- filled the air, just hours after reports that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ceded power after a nearly 30-year rule.
"It's like watching magic happen," she said.
Ms. Martin and her aunt, Patricia McKissick, 67, of Murrysville, have been living in Cairo since early January as volunteers with Refuge Egypt, a Christian aid organization that works to prepare Sudanese refugee children for school.
They had been keeping tabs on Tahrir Square, watching with uncertainty as hundreds of thousands of protesters demanded Mr. Mubarak's resignation as part of an escalating 18-day uprising that has left at least 300 dead, according to estimates from the United Nations.
But as they snapped photographs of the Nile Friday, Ms. Martin and Ms. McKissick also happened upon the Square, walking past barbed wire fencing as local women-turned-makeshift-security-guards calmly examined purses and passports.
Minutes later, it happened.
"It was like this sound erupted from many people as we were moving with them, and a man was next to me with a cell phone to his ear ... and he's saying, 'Mubarak gone!' 'Mubarak gone!' " said Ms. McKissick. She is a former Peace Corps volunteer to Iran who has spent two years traveling back and forth from Egypt, where her husband, John, worked.
"It was a chorus of horns honking, waving flags, so we joined them all. Women smiling, crying. It's just wonderful."
Ms. Martin said the crowd was "more people than I've ever seen at one place at the same time," noting that more adults, children and even people in wheelchairs joined in jubilant marching, embracing and chanting.
The euphoric mood in Cairo came as a marked change from just days earlier, when city curfews and shuttered storefronts added to thick tensions after Mr. Mubarak delegated some authority to his vice president, Omar Suleiman, but reiterated his refusal to leave the presidency Thursday.
Ms. Martin and Ms. McKissick said their Internet and cell phone service had been restored following periodic blackouts, and they spent part of Friday evening chatting with family members in the United States.
As the clamor of horns continued to rage outside, Ms. Martin noted that she felt safer in Tahrir Square's shoulder-to-shoulder crowds Friday than in her Cairo apartment less than three weeks ago.
Moments later, though, there were three gunshots outside, and police sirens. Then a pause.
"I am afraid things will turn sour tonight, and I am afraid there will be some organized chaos happening," she said.
"But we'll see what tomorrow brings."
Julie Percha: jpercha@post-gazette.com or 412-263-4903.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: February, 2011; Peace Corps Iran; Directory of Iran RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Iran RPCVs; Politics; Egypt
When this story was posted in February 2011, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| How Volunteers Remember Sarge As the Peace Corps' Founding Director Sargent Shriver laid the foundations for the most lasting accomplishment of the Kennedy presidency. Shriver spoke to returned volunteers at the Peace Vigil at Lincoln Memorial in September, 2001 for the Peace Corps 40th. "The challenge I believe is simple - simple to express but difficult to fulfill. That challenge is expressed in these words: PCV's - stay as you are. Be servants of peace. Work at home as you have worked abroad. Humbly, persistently, intelligently. Weep with those who are sorrowful, Care for those who are sick. Serve your wives, serve your husbands, serve your families, serve your neighbors, serve your cities, serve the poor, join others who also serve," said Shriver. "Serve, Serve, Serve. That's the answer, that's the objective, that's the challenge." |
| Support Independent Funding for the Third Goal The Peace Corps has always neglected the third goal, allocating less than 1% of their resources to "bringing the world back home." Senator Dodd addressed this issue in the "Peace Corps for the 21st Century" bill passed by the US Senate and Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter proposed a "Peace Corps Foundation" at no cost to the US government. Both are good approaches but the recent "Comprehensive Assessment Report" didn't address the issue of independent funding for the third goal at all. |
| Memo to Incoming Director Williams PCOL has asked five prominent RPCVs and Staff to write a memo on the most important issues facing the Peace Corps today. Issues raised include the independence of the Peace Corps, political appointments at the agency, revitalizing the five-year rule, lowering the ET rate, empowering volunteers, removing financial barriers to service, increasing the agency's budget, reducing costs, and making the Peace Corps bureaucracy more efficient and responsive. Latest: Greetings from Director Williams |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: Pittsburg Post Gazette
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Iran; Politics; Egypt
PCOL46668
18