Again separated
In Cairo with my wife Abeer, away from home, away from my mother who is now completely disabled, can’t move, can’t talk, can’t eat or drink, (she is fed via a tube through her nose). This is exactly the time that I want to be beside my mother, to hold her hand and let her know that she is not left alone.
Alone, my daughter Salma left 2 days ago for Lebanon to finish the last three months of her Masters degree. She arrived at a hostel that she rented online. it is apparently a very bad, dirty place. This happens. The last 2 days Salma went through panic attacks several times, not because of the place she lives in, but because of being in Lebanon with all this talk in the news about a possible war on Lebanon, the threat against the airport and the nightmare scenario of being stuck there alone and not being able to leave and get back to Cairo. I am here in Cairo and again this feeling of helplessness. What can I do? Away from home, away from my mother, brothers and sisters, away from my daughter, unable to assure her safety and unable to give her a hug that could calm her and release her panic. What can I do? What can anyone do? Why are we so weak? Why can’t we fly? Maybe then I can go and hold my mother’s hand, maybe then I can be with my daughter to give her the hug she needs, the hug I need?
Why is this happening to us?