February 28, 2011 - Monday
Following the instruction of Dr. Shabous, I went to the college this morning. My colleagues from India were about to go and asked me to hurry up so I can join them. Two colleagues from Iraq arrived after me. Dr. Shabous prepared a letter signed by the dean, giving foreign teachers one month emergency vacation. I asked if Kiko would also be given the same letter but Dr. Shabous said that he had to request it and get it personally. After handing my letter, Dr. Shabous gave me his email address and told me to keep in touch. He asked me to come back soon because he didn't want the college to miss me.
We had to proceed to the Immigration Office at the main campus of the university so our passports could be stamped with exit and re-entry. It was 11:20 on my watch and we had to be there before 12:00 noon. Alex and Tom, my Indian colleagues, invited me to join them in their rented car. Along the way, we saw long queues of people in the banks, spilling out onto the sidewalks, waiting to be given 500 dinar (for each family per month) as promised by Khadaffi to assuage the feelings of Libyans and prevent them from joining protests. Tom asked Ali, the Libyan driver, if he got his share already. Ali snarled saying, "What am I, a small child who would be given a lollipop after being made to cry? They can have all the money they promised but I will not fall for it!" Tom shrugged his shoulders and remarked, "You're really angry with the man, huh!" Ali said, "Forty-two years (of being under the regime), that's too much!"
We reached the building at ten minutes before twelve and had to literally run from the parking lot to the 4th floor where the IO was. There was a group of foreign professors in the office waiting for their passports to be processed. Others were turned away due to some technicalities. I really appreciated Dr. Shabous for taking the initiative to prepare our letters and expedite things for us.
When we finished our business, Tom asked Ali to bring me to my flat. He brought Alex and Tom to their flat first then, he asked permission to meet somebody at the Indian Embassy before bringing me to my flat. Since it was an opportunity for me to go around the city and observe the situation, I agreed. Everything seemed normal, at least in the streets where we passed. At the Indian Embassy, crowds of Indians with their luggage were all over, filling up the sidewalk in front and across the embassy.
From the Indian Embassy, we proceeded to my flat in Souq Jomaa. Nouri, my landlord, and his family were very happy to see me. He told me that I could stay with them if I felt scared. I told him not to worry about me because I could take care of myself. Actually, what I really wanted was some moments of solitude to think whether I would go home to the Philippines or stay in Libya.
(At this point, I'd like to share excerpts from an article which I read from the internet when I arrived in the Philippines last April. It was posted on the net on February 28 that's why I'm including it on this page. This article helped me to understand the Libyan rebellion and appreciate the heroism of the Benghazi rebels.)
From NPR News, written by Lourdes Garcia Navarro
Libya's Rebellion Spawns a Trio of Unlikely Heroes
Barely one week since Benghazi, Libya's second largest city fell into the hands of pro-democracy rebels, it already produced a pantheon of heroes. Three unlikely heroes was spawned by Libya's rebellion: a ball-cap wearing human rights lawyer whose arrest sparked the unrest; an air force pilot who wouldn't bomb his own people; and a balding middle-aged oil executive whose daring raid on a base dealt the final blow to the regime in Benghazi.
The Lawyer: Fathi Terbil, 39 years old, represented the families of those killed in a prison uprising against Muammar Ghadaffi's regime in 1996. One thousand two hundred people (political detainees, according to Dr. Naj) were slaughtered at Abu Selim Prison, among them three members of Terbil's family, including his brother. For years, he held solitary weekly protest in front of the courthouse,demanding justice. He was arrested seven times and was repeatedly tortured. On February 15, Ghadaffi's regime made a crucial mistake when it nabbed him again in Benghazi. Protesters, following the examples of Egypt and Tunisia, came out to the streets to demand his release, lighting the spark of revolution. Now, he is a member of the transitional governing council.
The Pilot: Capt. Abdul Salam Al Abdely, 49 years old air force pilot, was told to bomb rebel targets in Eastern Libya during the first days of the rebellion. When he refused, his co-pilot put a gun to his head; instead of complying, Abdely ejected himself from the plane. This act was one of the most dramatic incidents in the uprising. Later he told his father that he couldn't bomb his own people.
The Oil Executive: Mahdi Ziu was a father of two girls and a middle manager of the state oil company. He joined the protests as soon as they happened and became furious and saddened by the bloodshed. Many rebels were holed up around the main military base in the city with no luck breaking into the heavily defended compound. Ziu's wife said he would come home with his clothes smeared with blood from carrying dying and wounded comrades.
On February 20, sick with the carnage, he loaded his black Kia with propane cylinders without telling anyone. He drove it to the base and rammed it into the front gates, blowing them up. Demonstrators protesting outside the base were able to take it over. A few hours after Ziu sacrificed his life, the base was overrun and the city was taken over by the pro-democracy forces. This proved to be the turning point in the battle for Benghazi.
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