Life threatening...
Life changing...
Life during the revolution.
I think blogging about what really happened during the Tunisian Revolution came about because we had some friends here this week visiting from Tunis. Spending time with them and talking about what it was like to live during such a world changing event brought back many memories. I decided to share a few and some pictures I took the few times I left my home.
This is Ben Ali. Former president of Tunisia and the face that every person in this country could recognize. His billboards were standing everywhere.
I'm sure you all know the story of the Tunisian Revolution. If you don't, here is a very basic breakdown:
A man with a college degree in the south of the country could not find a job. He opened a fruits and veggies stand on the side of the road. The gov't came to him and told him he had to close it down because he didnt have a permit (which meant he would have to give a decent share to the president). He got so fed up he lit himself on fire and died. The frustration spread and they decided to start demonstrating. They moved from the south up to Tunis where we lived. Within days, the whole country was turned upside down. People were rioting and demonstrating everywhere and starting to fight.
President fled the country and some of his family members got out. Others were killed. All their belongings that remained were burned and looted. Businesses they owned, which was like half the country was destroyed and looted as well.
The military had to pull everyone together to guard the streets. Many of the police officers were corrupt because they worked for the president. Lots of conflict of interest. There were snipers hired by the president to try and gain control back. They were not successful. The Tunisians were not tolerating it anymore and together they made a statement... they overthrew their president. There was also over 1,000 prison inmates that were freed during all the chaos. This led to more looting and theft aside from the main targets.
One of the things that happened often was destruction of property belonging to Ben Ali and his family. This Hummer belonged to someone in his inner circle and these people were pushing it out of their neighborhood because they knew it would be destroyed. They were rightfully afraid that in time it could damage their homes or vehicles that were next to it... so they pushed it into a field and away from where they lived.
The people had no mercy when it came to ruining things that belonged to to the family that stole from them for years.
It was very common to see cars burnt up all over.
The military did an amazing job. I wish I had all my pictures (from my hard drive) to post because often you would see flowers laying on the tanks from people saying thank you. We all often took them meals as well because they worked around the clock. Thank God they were there.
It's crazy that facebook is one of the main reasons they were able to successfully overthrow their president. Organizing demonstrations, times, places, etc is what brought the mass numbers together effectively.
They spray painted walls everywhere their gratitude and new freedom!
The billboard that previously displayed a portrait of Ben Ali. They tore down his picture from every single one.
One of my favorite outdoor cafes. This is just a part of it that they destroyed and looted. It was owned by Ben Ali's wife's family. They broke all the glass windows and stole everything from the inside as well.
This is my sweet friend Emily who was my lifesaver during this time. We couldnt really get together too much because you weren't allowed to leave your home, but the few times we did was so wonderful. This picture was taken the first day that it was safe enough to leave your house. We went to a cafe and had a drink and caught up. On our way to this place, we were walking down a path. We heard loud screaming and chanting and we both stopped quickly and looked at each other. It was like a crap do we run or what do we do. So we kept walking slowly and peeked around this corner. It was a group of like 100 chinese students that were praying and facing the water. It was something pretty comical but could have been bad.
My home of Sidi Bou Said. This is also the town where the president lived. So unfortunately for me...there was a lot of action happening here. Many of the gunfire wars took place here and a lot of looting. I had to leave my home and stayed with the Det Cmdr there and his family.
We had a 4pm curfew. If you were caught on the streets after that they were allowed to shoot you. Marshall was restricted to the embassy compound. It was awful being alone and not having him next to me.
Scary story...
The one day I went to the marine house at like 11 am until 3:45 pm to see Marshall. Another marine and his girlfriend were there also. I didnt want to leave him but it was close to curfew and I knew we needed to get home. The place where I was staying was a couple streets over from the embassy. So the other marine, his girlfriend and myself started walking back. I had boots with a half heel on and a big bag of stuff I had taken to the marine house earlier. We came up to the first street we needed to cross and as I looked to my right, there was a mob of like 100 people running towards us, waving something, and screaming. We all freaked out and started to run. Well I have this huge bag and heels and definitely wasn't moving as fast as I wanted to. The marine grabbed my bag and was like "Run fast!!" So we start running but have a little ways to go. I remember feeling like I was running as fast as I could, but wasn't going anywhere. Like when you dream about trying to run away from someone but you don't move? I really felt like that. My body just wasn't working right. I dont know if I was just too scared or what. Anyways... we ended up making it and I collapsed inside. I was exhausted (and out of shape).
The same night...
That same night was the worst of them all. It was the first time in my life that I think I was terribly fearful for my life. Well every night you would hear gun shots, helicopters, fighting, etc. Most of the time you could tell it wasn't too close. Not comforting by any means, but not life threatening either. This particular night, there was hot action outside our house. We were near a bank that got robbed and a shooting war outside of it. So as everyone was asleep in the house upstairs, I was on the computer downstairs where I could get signal and talk to Marshall. It was about 11pm...the usual time for it to heat up outside. But this time the shots were VERY loud...and VERY close. I dont know anything about guns, but I did know that. I also heard the helicopters hovering over the house. Not flying in the sky like you hear, but close enough to land on our building. Super loud. And the spot lights kept shining through the windows as they were searching the area. So I knew something was up. I was on the verge of tears and telling Marshall...babe... I think a bullet is going to come through the window or someone is going to break down the door. He was asking me what the sounds were like... "ping" "pop" "clash" whatever else... I'm thinking... I DUNNO! A STINKIN GUN SHOT IS WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE!! He was trying to detect the direction it was going. He assured me nobody could get in the house (we had metal shutters down). He said if I really thought the shots were close to get on the floor and lay down. Which I did. I didnt want to go upstairs because I wouldnt be able to talk to him and would have to just lay there and listen to it alone... and that sounded worse. Thank God we made it safely through the night. I never slept those few awful weeks until about 5am when it all calmed down.
There are so many stories and memories from the revolution that I hope to share another time. I can't believe its been one year since it started. I can't thank God enough for keeping us safe. I don't know if I'm exactly grateful to have experienced such an event, but I did learn so much during that time. I think its crazy how you adapt so quickly into survival mode when you have to... and I'm reminded often when I think of those events to not take anything for granted. You also never know what can happen... even in the safest of places! It's good to be in prayer and close to God always... not just when you are in trouble!
Hope you had a great Saturday! Lots of love...