I am 35 years old and for the first time I admit that I love the ground of this country. I am proud to be an Egyptian. Before the 25th of January I was never interested in my country’s political issues, because I had gotten used to seeing the corruption and could only comment in private with my friends and family.

But on the 25th of January, the protesters were all over Cairo and I met them by accident and wanted to take pictures of them. On Friday the 28th I was watching the protesters when the police started firing the rubber bullets and the water cannons. I felt humiliated because the police gave the impression that these people are not humans and are not supposed to be treated with respect and dignity.

That night was a major change in my life. I saw from my balcony people riding motorcycles, coming out from everywhere, robbing all the shops around my house and burning buildings—it was the most terrified I have ever been. I started crying and asking myself, “Why they are doing that? Do they not love their country or are they hungry to the extent that their minds stopped working?” My mind was full of WHYS. I spent the worst night of my life but was very moved when all the neighbors became one and went down to the streets to guard the buildings and stores to stop the looting from continuing.

The chaos went on and on BUT in the Tahrir Square it was not chaos. My friends and family went there every day and they always updated me about how civilized the protesters were and that for the role of each one it did not make a difference whether you were boy or girl, man or woman. How the protesters’ spirit of insistence and challenge was very high. I wish I had the chance to go to Tahrir Square but the condition of my pregnancy made it necessary to stay home. In any case, I was there with my heart following every single second on television and on the telephone with my family who were there.

These days made me study politics, made me respect a lot of minds that I usually never listen to, made me feel that my country is one of the most powerful countries in the Middle East to the extent that the world was watching closely what was going on on the ground.
With all my heart I thank every single person that was there and the young people that died not only for the sake of freedom but for the sake of every other Egyptian to live with respect, dignity and freedom and to enjoy all the resources that were taken from us.