The following is part one of an interview DN-R reporter Tim Chapman conducted with James Madison University sophomore Meghann Joyce, of Burke, one of thousands of Americans who fled Egypt Monday as tensions grew over the country's political unrest. Joyce, an exchange student studying at the American University in Cairo, communicated with Chapman via Internet chat from Amman, Jordan, where she is staying until the situation in Cairo is resolved.
Joyce: Hi Tim
Chapman: Hey Meghann. How are you?
Hi! doing great, well, relatively (laughs)
Good to hear. So, where did you fly to?
We flew to Jordan last night.
So are you also studying with Lindsay Holt? (Holt is another JMU student who was studying at the American University in Cairo.)
Yes
Awesome. Good thing that the JMU folks are sticking together.
(Laughs) We bleed purple together.
Did you work [out the flight to Jordan] with the [U.S.] State Department?
It was our own plan to come here ... we didn't want to fly too far away so that we could travel and come back easily if we can get back into Egypt. The State Department flew most of our friends out, though. They were put on planes either to Istanbul, Cypress [or] Greece.
Once we got cell phone service again, we were able to call our families and have them help us with flight plans
How long was the cell phone service out? Internet?
Internet went out Thursday night around 11:30 [p.m.] and then phones went out Friday morning probably around 10 a.m. And internet is still not accessible yet, but cell phones did return [I] think Sunday … or maybe Saturday (laughs). Sorry, all the days just kinda mixed together because there was a curfew so we were just in the dorms a lot.
At any point did you fear for your safety and how close did you get to the action?
The only time I really ever felt fearful was Saturday and Sunday night when looting was beginning to happen.
I don't really have any crazy protest pictures...I stayed away from the main protests downtown, just because I knew they could get out of hand with the police "monitoring" them, but from my dorm, we were able to hear screams, hear gun shots, see tear gas being shot out.
We spent a lot of time on the terrace of my dorm and from there we were even able to feel tear gas spreading near us.
Wow. Why did you put monitoring in quotes?
Well from my friends' experiences downtown and from what I had always heard about the police, they were the most terrifying people at the protests.
The police did not hesitate to continue to shoot tear gas or spray people with water even when they stopped to pray when the call to prayer sounded.
Do you know if the gun shots were rubber bullets or live ammo?
The first day I think it was just rubber bullets and tear gas, but definitely the second day I believe it was gun shots.
Which day was the first day?
Friday was just the regular riot police with batons, tear gas, and rubber bullets.
But I think it was Saturday that police were shooting real ammunition at people when they were trying to get into the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
But truly, there was sooo much talk going around because no one was able to communicate with each other, so we are not positive who was shooting who.
So, was there looting right near your dorm? And what is the proximity of the dorm to Tahrir Square?
I never got a chance to walk fully around Zamalek after there were rumors of looting, just because of safety reasons and then the curfew.
But I knew everyone was ready for looting. Every man you saw on the street was holding a stick in his hand. That was everyone's type of weapon… a stick, and that included our security guards.
That was the most scary thing personally for me, knowing that there was only really 6 or 7 men with sticks guarding about 150 American's lives.
But to give them a lot of credit, I know they would have let nothing happen to us at all, or at least they would have died trying to protect us.
Were there any prisons close to you that were attacked and prisoners released?
I don't think that there are any prisons in Zamalek. Zamalek is largely a ex-pat area so its a pretty nice and "western" place.
Do all 150 [students] stay in the same building? Are these guards Egyptian citizens?
There were at least 150 U.S. students I believe and then Egyptian students live there too, and, yes, the guards were Egyptians. A lot of protesting went on also on the 26th of July Street, with was about 2 or 3 blocks from our dorm.
And what is your major?
I am a Global Justice major with a minor in Middle Eastern Communities and Migrations.
Was there any semblance of every day life for Egyptians over the weekend?
Egyptians commonly stay up very, very late. Eating dinner at 11 p.m. is kinda a normal thing. So most shops and restaurants are normally open late, especially on weekends. But with the protests, it was very bizarre seeing places close around 3 p.m.
So businesses adhered to the curfew?
Grocery stores were closing early, food places closed very early or didn't open at all.