A daughter in Egypt…

A fellow volunteer informed me that he left a box of mandarin oranges at the center, donated by one of his office-mates. He had delivered another box to his client and figured I may have other families I can send the other box to.

So this afternoon I went over to the center to get the box of oranges, then I headed off to Lin’s house. Her 2 daughters studying in KL were back so I thought it would be the perfect time to deliver the oranges to them. In addition to that, I wanted to find out if Lin had got any news from Zizi, her daughter in Egypt. I brought along my netbook and usb modem in case she wanted to see some online updates on the process of evacuation of Malaysian students in Egypt.

Lin was surprised to see me as I didn’t tell her I was coming. She looked calm… she just managed to speak to Zizi. Those with family members in Egypt had been advised to call them from land/fixed lines, but Lin didn’t have a fixed line at home. From what I understand, the only mobile land which would get through to Egypt (since the uprising of the people of Egypt) was Digi.

Well, one of Lin’s daughters who is back home for CNY holidays decided to top-up her phone and attempted to call. The first call, although the number was correct, got through to a guy in Cairo. The 2nd attempt again was answered by a man, so Zizi’s sister immediately ended the call. It was only at the 3rd attempt did they manage to get through to Zizi’s phone.

Zizi, a Mara scholar, had earlier been placed together with other Malaysian students in Alexandria. According to her, MARA officers had been taking good care of them, calling them every day to check on them and to pass them info on the latest situation, and also to deliver food to them. They have been told to get ready and that evacuation was already in the process, starting with those in Cairo first.

After listening to Zizi herself, Lin feels a whole lot better now. Lin had heard of other parents buying air tickets to get their children home… and so she felt quite worried because she couldn’t afford to buy an air ticket for her daughter.

Since Lin didn’t have internet at home, I switched on my netbook, and connected to the internet using my usb modem. I showed her updates from http://krisismesirnasibrakyatkita.blogspot.com and from there she saw for herself the schedule of flights from Cairo to Jeddah and from Alexandria to Jeddah.

I think Lin can probably sleep better now that she has heard Zizi herself saying that she was alright and well taken care of by the Mara officers. No doubt things aren’t over yet, but at least she knows Zizi is in good hands.

Let’s all pray that everything will run smoothly and that all Malaysians in Egypt can be evacuated safely without any problems.