THE DAUGHTER of local couple Nirmal and Rani Parmar is ready to go back to her teaching position in Egypt in the wake of president Hosni Mubarak stepping down last week.
Angela Parmar, 37, who teaches at the BC Canadian International School in Cairo, Egypt, has a ticket to fly back to Cairo, tomorrow, Feb. 17, after spending one week in France and one week in England. The school is set to reopen next week.
“All is well and then I heard his (Mubarak) speech about staying and [I thought] ‘I didn’t buy travel insurance,’” she said by phone from London Feb. 11 about wondering if she could still fly back tomorrow if Mubarak changed his mind and stayed. “I have colleagues who stayed [in Egypt] the whole time. I’m excited to see what will happen, and what’s going on.”
During the last week of January, an uprising against Mubarak broke out as public frustration with corruption, oppression and economic hardship boiled over. Protestors took to the streets and a group against Mubarak clashed with a group who supported him Feb. 1.
The protestors continued to demand Mubarak’s resignation and on Feb. 17, Mubarak announced he would resign and step down.
Her friends who stayed were subject to a 4 p.m. to 8 a.m. curfew, where residents have to be inside between those times, imposed before Parmar left Egypt. “Honestly, the only reason why I left was because [of] the curfew,” she said.
When she was still in Egypt, on the second day of the protests came the first curfew, which was announced about 15 minutes before it was to start.
She had a staff party and still went to it.
“You know so I went, and when I walked home with some friends, you could hardly see any cars on the street,” she said. “The building managers in my neighbourhood all got together and got sticks, long sticks, they [would] fight with long sticks [if they needed to], and blocked off the street with a couple cars but it was a quiet night.”
There was no looting on her street but on another street looters attempted to take things.
When she was heading to the airport for the flight out, there were tanks on the roads.
Parmar always intended to go back to Egypt and continue teaching but if something changes and the situation in Egypt doesn’t calm down, she will probably come home and go back to substituting, she said. But right now, she’s just happy for the Egyptian protestors. “I’m just so stoked and excited for the Egyptians. I’m really proud of them. I’m just really amazed and in awe of them.”