Last night was an anti climax, we were waiting for Mubarak to resign and he didn’t! Feelings of disappointment all over Cairo and Egypt, but at 5:30pm today everything changed with the announcement of his resignation. There had been reports earlier in the day that his military helicopter had been seen at Sharm el Sheikh (holiday resort at the tip of Sinai) and then Omar Suleiman (Vice President) came on TV and announced that Mubarak had stepped down and control had now passed to the army council. Jubilation on the streets of Cairo was how one report put it.
So what will happen now? I am hoping life will start returning to normal, that protestors will trust the army (as most Egyptians seem to – ‘The army and the People are one’ is one of the rallying cries we hear on the news) and will return to their jobs (those that have them). State TV needs to reassure the people that all is well, elections need to take place soon. I think one of the news reports earlier in the troubles said they needed to take place within 60 days of the President stepping down, but I will wait and see. During the last elections in November people voted on a Sunday so the school was shut for two extra days (I do find the lack of time in school annoying, since September I have only taught for 59 days!). The army council needs to make a statement of what it would like to happen and how it intends to achieve these goals to put peoples minds at rest and the tourists need to come back to help restore the economy!
WE tried to get money out of the atm today while Friday prayers were on but HSBC had shut down the machines again. Hopefully they will be open soon, as there is currently a 2000 LE limit on withdrawals and we need to get out the rent money (5000 LE) which will take 3 trips/days.
Keep up the prayers for wisdom in the decisions the new people in power will have to make, safety for the people here and a restoration of the economy.
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