Egypt unrest: A brave native woman's view

Last week on Postcards, Kissinger Associates President Jami Miscik, a former senior official at the CIA, shared her take on the unrest in Egypt and her story of being in Cairo when it began.

Over the weekend, I received an email from a woman who has an even more up-close-and-personal view of what's going on in Egypt. Amany Eid lives in Cairo, works in the telecom industry, and spent a month in the U.S. last spring as a participant in the Fortune-U.S. State Department Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership. This is a program that invites rising-star businesswomen from developing countries to shadow U.S.-based participants of Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit. The moment I met Eid, I knew she was a spirited and fiercely determined woman. Now, with Egypt on the brink of change, her spirit is rising to the occasion. Eid was never politically active until last week when she joined the demonstrations in Tahrir Square, where she was tear-gassed. Her experience made her even more determined to use her voice. Here Eid, 34, shares her perspective on her country. - Patricia Sellers

Eid last spring in New York's Time Square

I have always felt safe in Egypt. I never had to worry about being attacked in my own home or about my car being stolen. Last week, with the lack of police and with escaped prisoners on the streets, it was a nightmare.

Around 4 p.m. on the Saturday after the unrest began, we heard screaming in the street and went to the balcony to find out what was wrong. It turns out that all the men in our neighborhood were downstairs, armed with whatever they could find and calling all men to come down and protect their cars.

I live in Cairo with my mother and sister. We don't have a man in the house. Our car was downstairs. We didn't know what to do. My mom -- a lady to the core, by universal standards -- did not want me to go and be involved in any potential fighting or stand with the men in face of escaped convicts. Not knowing what to do, I thought that we could dismantle one tire from the car so that anyone trying to steal it would not be able to do so. They could damage the car or break a window, but they wouldn't be able to run away with the whole car. More

Posted in: Egypt, FORTUNE Most Powerful Women Summit, FORTUNE MPWomen, Hosni Mubarak, Jami Miscik, Mentoring, Most Powerful Women, Postcards

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