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Published: February 16th 2011
When we came to Tunisia we believed it was a very stable Arabic country. It was, but the cost of that stability was the oppression of the people. To read more about the whys and wherefores of Tunisia's recent Jasmine Revolution you could do much worse than to read
No Marmite In Tunisia where the whole situation has been very well summarised.
This blog entry is our personal experience of a dramatic and sometimes scary few days which have changed Tunisia forever. Although the story really begins on 17 December 2010, we didn't really know much about what was going on until around Sunday 9 January 2011. Maybe it was us not paying enough attention to what was going on around us, or maybe it was the cover-up from the Government of the time.
Anyway, by Monday 10 January we knew that protests were on the increase across the country and that large scale demonstrations had finally made it to the capital, Tunis. We had to work an extra day to make up for some lost classes due to public holidays and the students were a little tense about what was happening. Bear in mind that public protests
had not been seen on a large scale in Tunisia for many years.
On Tuesay 11 January Russ was sick and had lost his voice so he couldn't go in to work. Trish said that things were quite tense and when news spread of a large gathering down the road from our school, it was decided to abandon the classes at 9pm so that everyone could get home. That evening we started to get the first worried messages from home but as far as we were concerned we were safe and well away from any problems.
On Wednesday 12 January Russ was still sick and stayed home. Trish's working day didn't last too long as classes were cancelled as soon as the afternoon's kids arrived. Trouble was spreading and there were reports of some banks and supermarkets being looted. A curfew was put in place from 8pm until 6am so Trish and the other teachers headed home as soon as they could. That evening Russ learned how to use twitter! Lots of very interesting information was being tweeted and we were soon very aware of just how the situation was developing. Apparently the army were on the streets
of Tunis but out where we live in Marsa life seemed to be continuing as normal. We could here a few cracks in the distance but we went to bed feeling quite secure.
On Thursday 13 January Russ waited anxiously for news of his lunchtime class. He didn't want to venture into Tunis to find he had no students! It seems the international community were not yet aware of what was going on as many friends and family were surprised we even had a curfew. By mid morning work had made the sensible decision to cancel all classes for the remainder of the week. We decided to go out to the supermarket and do some "panic buying" just in case they closed. We were quite shocked to find the bank around the corner was now a burnt out shell! At the supermarket we were greeted by iron gates but persuaded the guard to let us in. A sign of how calm things still seemed in Marsa was Russ' Facebook status where he "apologises for the lack of pictures showing tanks on the streets but we really do live in a quiet neighbourhood."
That was to prove a false
statement. By 5.30pm we had gunfire and teargas just a block or so away from the apartment. We had no idea what was really going on though as the international media were still not interested. Channel 4 were reporting deaths in Tunis though and we were starting to get a bit worried. We had an evening in with James Bond where the gunshots on screen merged with the gunshots outside! Before we went to bed we saw that Ben Ali had made a statement on national TV saying that he would reduce the price of bread, sugar and milk, and that Youtube was now unblocked. Things seemed suddenly quiet!
Friday 14 January was decreed a day of General Strike. We had been advised to stay indoors all day but it was a glorious morning and life seemed to be going on as normal in the streets. We ventured out to the seafront where we met up with a fellow teacher for a chat about things. There were many reports of random acts of violence and damage to various buildings so we said we would go home but check out our favourite cafe on the way. We saw nothing but
as we descended the hill from the fully intact Cafe Journal some local lads advised us to turn around. We had no choice but to continue as we had to get home! Local youths began to cover their faces as they gathered outside some of the posher houses in our neighbourhood.
By the time we got home the atmosphere in the streets was pretty ugly. The gangs began looting one or more of the houses they were staking out. We retreated to the house but occasionally went up onto the roof to see what was happening. A neighbour told Russ that the houses of the president and his wife, and their families, were being looted. He had heard that the president would be leaving that evening. From the roof we could see some large fires burning towards Tunis and along the coast, and the looted houses were on fire too. Things seemed to progress quickly from there. A State of Emergency was soon declared by the government and the curfew restrictions got harsher with crowds of 3 or more being threatened with shooting.
The evening was quite extraordinary. With an amazing sunset as the background, large crowds disobeyed
the curfew and marched past our front door. That was a little disconcerning to say the least. Rumours circulated online of a coup d'etat and that all Tunisian airspace had been closed. An eerie silence drifted over from the airport. Within an hour President Ben Ali had gone and chaos ruled in the streets. All the teachers were talking to each other online and there was talk of revolution. The gallows humour really kept us going at times as the gunfire outside became more regular. The tear gas got closer and thicker and it sounded like we were living in a war zone. Needless to say there were no more trips onto the roof to see what was happening. BBC were reporting from central Tunis and it looked much quieter than outside our door! We went to bed at around midnight but sleep was hard to come by with continuing gunfire accompanied by helicopters overhead throughout the night.
The morning of Saturday 14 January greeted us with blue skies and a thin line of smoke hanging above Tunis. All was calm in the streets and we managed to stretch our legs and see some of the night's damage. It
felt quite safe but we were wary of everyone we saw. In the afternoon we were advised to pack a bag ready for evacuation in the near future. A bizarre scene in ourhouse then with Russ listening to the football on the Internet and Trish watching a flim on TV.
As darkness fell there were gangs of men in the streets armed with sticks and knives. We presumed they were there to defend their property but the not knowing was awful. In the evening an army truck finally arrived in our area which was greeted by whistles and cheers. It seemed the threat now was from the militia gangs of the ousted president's police force. Apparently their looting was rather more random and from reports on twitter it was all getting a bit close for comfort. There was a lot of gunfire in the streets and news came through that we had to keep lights on so that the army knew which buildings were still occupied. We were the only people left in the building!
It wasn't a pleasant night. Every creak, every bang had our heats racing. Sleep? Not a bit of it. Helicopters and gunshots went
on forever. It was a horrible night!
We had to be up and ready to go at 7.30am on Sunday 15 January. In the end we didn't get collected until 10am but then we had to negotiate the road blocks and local vigilante gangs to get to the airport. It was pretty chaotic there when we arrived but all of our colleagues were there too and it was really good to see everyone. All flights were seriously delayed but we eventually got away at 8.30pm. London beckoned and we were all relieved to get to our hotel and await our Monday morning briefings!
Waiting in the UK for news on when we could return to Tunisia was hard. It took about a week to calm down and get all the adrenaline out of our systems. We saw many of our families but it wasn't possible to get around the UK and see everyone. In the end we had 3 weeks away before the Foreign & Commonwealth Office said we could go back.
On Sunday 6 February we arrived back in Tunis. It was much warmer than the UK. Things have changed but we are happy to be
back and optimistic about the future. Life seems pretty good again but the country needs visitors for its economy. Hopefully the tourists will return soon. As of 15 February, the curfew has been lifted. Yes, there are problems still, and we are much more wary on the streets than we used to be, but Tunisia is open for business again and we are happy to be part of that.
Let's get back to normal now!
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Menna
non-member comment
Glad you're safe and sound
Just read the blog and glad to hear that you got through it all okay. It's quite different reading someone's personal experience of something which you've just watched on the media.Don't suppose it will put you off living in these places will it?