We have a dear colleague, whom we worked closely with for several years on some innovative ideas, who's stationed in Egypt. Last Tuesday, on the day that things erupted there, we received, somewhat out of the blue, a warm and connected email about how his work was going, how his family was doing, and about what he was learning. His family was safer, he said, than they had been in some of the other countries they'd lived in over the years, for which he was grateful.
I responded quickly, telling him our latest news, which he didn't know. Within a few hours came the news from Egypt and I've, of course, been worried about them since. This morning, I received another email, which I guess means that some Internet access is available again:
Dear J & J,
As I read your email, tears filled my eyes, and sorrow filled my heart...[redacted as too personal for the blog...]
A couple of days ago, I drafted the above reply and pushed the "send" button. Nothing happened. That's how I found out that we were cut-off from the internet. It has been a roller-coaster ever since. There were some tense moments as we relocated [people], and we secured food and water for [our] workers... With good progress on all fronts, I'm pleased to tell you that all are safe and unharmed...
I'll save the rest for another post as it involves the work we've done together and how he was able to use it in a real-time emergency. Just wanted you to see the words of someone on the ground in the midst of a revolution.
