I received the email from our friends in CA.
This is a letter that they received of a couple who lives in Egypt.Wanted to share this with you.
This is a gay couple who lives in Cairo,Egypt.
Hope you take the time out to read this.




Below is an Email from a couple guys that belong to the men's wine tasting group that Bob and I have been doing for the past couple years. These guys live about half the year in Sonoma County and the remainder of the year in Cairo. One of the guys is Egyptian. Descriptions of the events in Tahrir Sq seem a bit disjointed to me, but interesting comments from folks living through this. Hope they make it through it all safely. May be a rather risky situation for gay couples there depending on which way the political winds blow.

Bob


Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2011 6:52 AM
Subject: Safe and Sound in Egypt



Dear Friends,



It is 2:00 p.m. here in Egypt on Wednesday, February 2, 2011, and we have just regained access to the internet, which has been shut down in Egypt since last Thursday evening, January 27.



As you can imagine, our email Inbox is clogged with mail from most of you, expressing your concern for our well-being during the peaceful demonstrations here in Egypt. Rather than try to reply to each query separately, we are sending just one email to all of you. We will eventually get around to reading all of your emails, and if there is anything special to which we need to reply, we will do so.



First of all, despite the seriously exaggerated news reports in the American and British press, the demonstrations here in Egypt have been peaceful and conducted without violence, except in cases where the ruling regime has deliberately provoked reaction and incited violence.



The City of Cairo remains very quiet, except where the demonstrations are taking place, mostly at Tahrir Square downtown. The Civil Defense authorities in all of the various districts of the City responded immediately when the ruling regime withdrew all of the police from Cairo’s streets. The response of the people of Cairo to this affront has been simply amazing and very heart-warming: young men in each city block have been taking shifts monitoring the neighborhoods during the nighttime, when a curfew has been in effect. The young men have set up barricades on the streets, so that no one can pass without having his ID checked or unless one belongs to a given neighborhood. As a result, our streets have been safe and most unusually quiet. You could hear a pin drop on our street at nighttime.



We feel quite certain that the burning of the downtown headquarters building of the ruling National Democratic Party was instigated and perpetrated by members of the government. Mr. Mubarak’s response to the demonstrations has been that of a spoiled brat. He has basically shut down much of the country in response to the first really free demonstrations that Egypt has ever experienced. He shut down the internet; he cut off all cell phone communication; he closed the banks, including all ATM machines, so that no one can get any cash; he removed the police from the streets, potentially making the city unsafe (however, as noted above, the people of Cairo have responded very well to this challenge); and finally, he has imposed such a draconian curfew that people cannot get to work, and, even if they could, those who work in shops, banks, offices, etc., would find them all closed. So for the past week, people in the three largest cities (Cairo, Alexandria and Suez) have not been able to earn a living. Also, because of the curfew, food deliveries have been delayed. Nevertheless, food is being delivered to the shops, and, despite long lines, food is available, if you have cash. Oh, yes, Mr. Mubarak also shut down the processing of all credit cards.



As of today, the curfew hours have been shortened a bit. The new curfew will be from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. the next day. For the past few days it has been from 3:00 p.m. until 8:00 a.m. The banks are still closed, but ATM machines are now operating. Cell phones are working once again, and, as you can see, we finally have internet access again.



The response to Mr. Mubarak’s televised speech last evening has been mostly negative. For one thing, his promises were too vague and weak, and for another, he has a 30-year history of reneging on all of his promises. In other words, he cannot be trusted to keep his word. So, the demonstrations will probably continue, at least for a while. As I write, people are already returning to Tahrir Square for today’s demonstrations.



The latest lies and distortions of the media: we turned on the TV, and both CNN and the BBC were reporting so-called live pictures from Tahrir Square, saying that pro-Mubarak demonstrators were clashing with the anti-Mubarak demonstrators. They said that there was fighting going on and that it was on the screen, but it was not. All of the so-called “live” pictures that both networks were showing showed a lot of people milling about in Tahrir Square, but there were no fights or violence being shown. Then, all of a sudden, a line of men on horseback and camelback started racing through the crowd with clubs, beating the peaceful demonstrators. The demonstrators quickly surrounded the thugs and pulled them to the ground in defense of this provocation. We are fairly certain that the mounted thugs were police in civilian clothing. Chock another one up for Mubarak & Co.



We are safe and comfortable here in Nasr City, which is about eight miles from downtown as the crow flies. We have plenty of food in our freezer, and, thank goodness, we have enough cash to sustain us for some time.



The purpose of the demonstrations has been to achieve true freedom of speech and assembly, to route out corruption in the government, and to end the dictatorial rule of Mr. Mubarak. So far, Mr. Mubarak has not responded positively to any of these requests.



When the demonstrations began, we were entertaining visitors from California and Seattle. At the beginning of the demonstrations they were down south on their Nile cruise. When the cruise ended, they were able to fly back to Cairo, although their plane was delayed a few hours. Similarly, they were also able to continue on to Jordan two days ago, once again with a delayed flight. They are in Jordan now, visiting Petra, and will return to the states directly from Jordan.



All of the major tourist sites in the greater Cairo area have been shut down by the government: the Great Pyramids of Giza, Sakkara, Dahshour, the Egyptian Museum and all other museums in Cairo, and so on. So for visitors to the city of Cairo, this would not be a good time to visit, simply because you could not see any of the sights. However, the antiquities, museums, temples and tombs in the south of Egypt remain open, if one can get there. International flights are continuing to arrive in Cairo, and even if they arrive during the curfew period, passengers are being allowed to go to their hotels. Hotel guests have been able to get meals and take advantage of all the normal hotel services, but most public restaurants and shops have remained closed for nearly a week now.



There were a few scattered police on the streets yesterday. If the police return to the streets, then the banks, museums, shops, etc. will all probably re-open for business. This all depends on the government, which is still sulking over the demonstrations.



Up to now there has never been a moment when either of us has felt unsafe or threatened. Reports of evacuations of American citizens from Egypt have been enormously exaggerated. The American Embassy says that there are about 10,000 Americans in Egypt. They are sending embassy staff home at the rate of 200 per day. At that rate, they will still be evacuating Americans a year from now! It has never crossed my mind even once (this is Dennis speaking) that I might leave the country because of the demonstrations. The demonstrators are peaceful. Things would have to get a whole lot worse before I would contemplate leaving. At this point Tommy and I are still on track to return to Sonoma, California on May 4.



Our hearts and sympathies lay entirely with the Egyptian people. These are some of the most gentle and kind people on earth, and they have been oppressed and repressed by the current dictator and his cronies for the past 30 years, and for many more years before that. They want and deserve to have an open, free, secular society, and that is exactly what the majority of the demonstrators want. When we hear Americans criticizing these aspirations, it makes us wonder, as these are all things that we Americans take for granted in our daily lives. It would be good to remember how we achieved our freedom from the tyranny of England in a very bloody war more than 200 years ago.



We appreciate all of your expressions of concern. We are blessed to have so many loving friends. You can be sure that, if the situation should deteriorate to the point that it would not be safe to remain here, we will both go back to California as soon as possible. However, we do not expect that to happen. We are safe and calm, and we are both sleeping well.



If there is any significant change affecting our lives, we will let you know, if we have access to the internet.



Love to all of you,

Dennis and Tommy