Fleeing Egypt with her baby son and no money, Kiwi Nicki Singleton is now safe at home in New Zealand. But she wishes she didn’t have to leave her husband behind.
Nicki (37) is speaking exclusively to the Weekly of her frightening experience in the oiddle East. As she packed her bags last week to return to her native New Zealand, Nicki watched tanks rolling down her suburban street, her local supermarket was overrun with looters and her friends witnessed a shoot-out outside their house.
Nicki and her 10-month-old son Zain are among the 207 New Zealanders forced to flee Egypt this month when political unrest took hold.
Returning to New Zealand last weekend, Nicki has been living in Egypt for seven years with her Egyptian husband, Amgad Shaalan (36), and Zain. Nicki, who is principal of an international English school in Cairo, insists that, until a few weeks ago, it was a safe country. “There was very little petty crime. But it’s been on the rise because some of the people can’t afford to feed themselves,” she says from her mother’s Auckland home.
Nicki’s first experience with crime in the now-troubled country was when her wallet was stolen a week before protests began, leaving her at a huge disadvantage when she had to leave. “I had no credit cards or access to any money,” she says.
Initially, Nicki thought she and her son could ride out the unrest, but watching the events unfold became more disconcerting.
“There were tanks cruising around – the military were trying to protect people’s property from looters.
“It’s like a normal street in New Zealand and then suddenly a tank hurtles past. It was bizarre. The supermarket I used was looted because people were desperately wanting to make sure they had water and bread,” says Nicki, who managed to get her supplies before it was ransacked.
“on the Friday night, when it all kicked off, I was quite scared because the media were saying the looters were coming into wealthy neighbourhoods, where we lived, and we knew that one of my students’ houses had been looted a couple of roads away. A colleague watched a stand-off between the army and a group in his street.”
The following night, Nicki had to make a nerve-wracking journey to her school to welcome a flight of 40 foreign students from Switzerland who had arrived, but found herself confronted with armed locals.
“I got stopped a number of times by what appeared to be vigilante groups but were actually the street police that had appointed themselves to look after everybody.
“They’d built fires in the middle of the road so you had to stop. It was quite primitive. They were waving sticks and you had to explain what you were doing. Luckily my basic Arabic is okay.”
With the rest of Nicki’s colleagues wanting to leave Egypt, they decided to shut the school until later this month.
“There was a huge military presence in Cairo when I left, with tanks everywhere and soldiers with guns on every corner.
“The internet wasn’t going. Those of us wanting to get out couldn’t book flights.”
Fortunately, Nicki’s family held tickets to the United Arab Emirates where Nicki was supposed to attend a conference. But Amgad wanted to stay in his home country.
“Tickets were like hen’s teeth and I thought I’d better make the most of the fact that we had them and we should go, given that the embassy was saying non-essential people should leave.
“Amgad wanted us to leave so we would be safe, but at the same time he didn’t want us to go. And I knew I would worry about him.”
But when she got to the airport with just a few summer clothes, baby formula and nappies, Nicki discovered EgyptAir was on strike because the crew wanted to be home with their families.
“The worst part was being stuck in the middle of 600 people who were all angry. We were all gridlocked and it was at that point that I felt a sense of, ‘I really need to get out by whatever means possible.'”
Fortunately the diplomatic staff rang her mobile to say there were eight spare seats on a Lufthansa flight to Germany.
Dressed in just shorts and a T-shirt, Nicki and Zain were totally unprepared for the freezing temperatures when they arrived.
“We ended up in Frankfurt in 20cm of snow. But we were met by a New Zealand embassy representative who was brilliant. She managed to get us on a flight to Australia and get Zain’s stroller back, which was left on the tarmac at Cairo.”
Nicki, who previously taught at Long Bay College, only arrived home to Auckland’s North Shore last week. But she’s already thinking about returning to her husband and Egypt, where the political situation is stabilising after its ruler Hosni oubarak agreed not to stand for re-election.
“We have a home and I have a job there, but I wouldn’t go back if the embassy said not to. But the future is looking brighter than it did a couple of weeks ago. Egypt is a really nice place to be – just not now.”
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
