My Egyptian Friend, Tarek From Cairo

My friend from Cairo: Tarek with two of his beautiful daughters.
My friend from Cairo: Tarek with two of his beautiful daughters.

In earlier posts, you learned about my travels throughout Egypt with Rick Steves.  The man who made our trip such a rewarding learning experience was our friend and guide from Cairo, Tarek.  We are so grateful to have met such a kind, professional, sincere man to teach us about such a beautiful country, its history, its culture, and its politics.  Just three weeks before the  June 30th start of Egypt’s revolution against the Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood-run government, Tarek and his wife Heba gave birth to their third daughter. Tarek’s country is in turmoil, and Rick and I asked him for his perspective on the situation.  As he is a businessman in the tourism industry who needs to be concerned with how the government would perceive his statements, we asked his permission to share his candid letter with our readership.  His boldness is an example of the resolve of those Egyptians who are not fundamentalists in their religion to earn a pluralistic and secular democracy. 

This his response to the request, followed by his original letter. 

 

Hi Rick and Trish,

Feel free to print the letter. I feel the good times are about to come, looking at Tahrir square and other big squares in Egypt and seeing millions of Egyptians are protesting so peacefully, makes me proud that I am a descendant of a great civilization! I am going to Tahrir Square in a couple of hours to feel the buzz and call for a government that represents our people!

Best Regards,

Tarek Mousa

 

Dear Trish & Rick

So nice to hear from you and thanks a lot for your kind thoughts. First Heba & I had our new baby girl, Farida. She is 3 weeks old now and she is so beautiful! I don’t think I will have children anymore: After Alia was born 3 weeks later came the 25 January Revolution. Now, 2 weeks after Farida was born, we are having 30 June Revolution!

Remember when you were in Egypt and I stated a few times that Egypt will come through a very dark tunnel before we see the light at the end? I think Egypt is about to enter this dark tunnel now!

On June 30 the Egyptian people went on the streets. Some media says 17 million, others say 33 million. But definitely it was more people than the 25 January Revolution 2 years ago!

Old posters of Morsi are a lingering reminder of the failures of the current government.
Old posters of Morsi are a lingering reminder of the failures of the current government.

Most people are sick and tired of the Muslim Brotherhood regime and I am sure you have noticed this when you were here in Egypt. After one year of President Morsi ruling the country, the country is in more debt, we have long queues for petrol, our currency value has dropped by 25%, this means more expensive imports for us as we import 80% of our needs in Egypt! President Morsi has no idea about how to rule a big and respected country like Egypt and for sure Egypt deserves better!

Our army gave warning yesterday they will interfere if the President doesn’t accept the people demands of early elections and a technocrat government. It is so simple! But he is so stupid and stubborn and saying no to everything!

Egypt has never been as divided as it is now as a result of his regime! What the army is going to do is certainly not a coup. They will be responding to the call of the Egyptian people for the army to save us from Morsi.

Morsi, made enemies with most Egyptians. He made all judges angry over sacking the previous national prosecutor and replaced him with another one from the Muslim Brotherhood to give arrest warrants to anyone who opposes his regime and there is hundreds of revolutionists are currently in jail.

He made enemies with the Salafist Muslims who supported him to come to power and didn’t share with them any of his promises to share in his power once he is in control–these are 3million people whose support he has now lost!

Morsi had a hidden Islamist agenda.  Even though he ousted all oppositions and liberal forces, he still thought he had a majority.  Well, 30June proved he was completely wrong! I am sure he is in shock now and so is the Muslim Brotherhood.   Their supporters are in some streets now, but nothing like the oppositions rallies!

The statement made by our army yesterday made most Egyptians at ease as we feel so protected by our army from the fascist Muslims! This is the difference between Egypt & Syria. In Syria, the army was with the regime not the Syrian people. In Egypt the army is with the Egyptian people! This is why we will never have a civil war. Thanks God for that. We call our army the army of Egyptian people not the army of the regime! As military service is compulsory in Egypt, you find most families will have someone serving in the military.  Whether Muslim or Christian, religious or not, they love Egypt and will die for Egypt anytime.

You may see some street fighting and some people killed over the next few days in the news. Sadly, this is the price to get a fresh start and get back our freedom.

I want my beautiful Egypt back, I miss it so much!

Best Regards

Tarek Mousa

Chairman & CEO

Egypt & Beyond Travel

Our hopeful thoughts and prayers are with Tarek, his family, and his fellow Egyptians.
Our hopeful thoughts and prayers are with Tarek, his family, and his fellow Egyptians.

 

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