The diary of the Egyptian uprising in Randa's Words

Photo by Randa El Tahawy

It was not easy to start writing this post as my thoughts have been scattered everywhere lately. I was caught up in what is currently happening in my country Egypt, some may refer to it an uprising others as a revolution,a crisis, unrest whatever name it has, to us and to me what has been happening since Tuesday January 25 are historical events.

 I would like to think of myself as a journalist -debutant- is more appropriate and I also don't see myself as a direct actor of this revolution-I was not there in Tahrir Square every day and I haven't spent sleepless nights there-which I regret and blame it to the fact that before being a debutant journalist I am after all an Egyptian woman.

Yet, I am proud to have been part of this movement, to have witnessed it and to have participated in a way or another. I have been glued to the TV since day one, with my laptop tweeting and checking Facebook with the phone stuck to my ear debating with friends and family.I even had dreams about it.

Thanks to wonderful journalists, bloggers, tweeps( Twitter has been the most powerful tool of this revolution) and anyone who shared their thoughts through Facebook, their opinions, their videos:
 We made history.

Many have put their lives in danger for unveiling the truth and for protesting for a cause that we all believe in:  to see a better future for Egypt.

I sometimes have feelings of being a stranger in this country- that I have some missing parts from the Egyptian culture- but I never felt as much love for Egypt as I feel now, never felt as empowered and optimistic about Egypt.

I am not writing this post to dictate my opinions and spread my political knowledge-that needs to be polished- nor to report on the events that have been happening since January 25. I am not afraid to say that there are a lot of things I didn't know and still don't know, I am often naive and I fell a lot of times for the manipulative tactics of the government to scare the average citizen and spread the feeling of panic and chaos in these events.

But I know what I thought and how I felt during these 12 days-when the internet was down I was making notes of what I feel and what was happening on my calendar's phone- and that's why I want to share it and document it because I now have even more faith in my words and believe that what we witnessed in this revolution is why I am a journalist.

I want people's voices to be heard, I want freedom, equality, justice and tolerance. I want to inform people and this is why my following post will be featuring my diary the past days of the revolution. The Egyptian Uprising of 2011 where we all had one voice.

As far as the situation is right now, life seems to be pretty much back to normal for the average citizens, many are going back to work tomorrow (Sunday) and the curfew has been eased up to start from 7pm until 6am. Still events keep unfolding but sadly I fear that the passion will be slowly fading away.