Carla Khalifa and her husband Fouad Awsen Khalifa share their personal story from the Libyan Revolution with LYM’s very own Enas Eruk. The following are two excerpts from their reflections on the revolution one year later.
Carla
My husband and I lived in Amsterdam Holland. My husband was a carpenter. On March 22, 2011, he left Amsterdam to Libya to join the freedom fighters in their fight for freedom. He stayed there until October 1st, 2011. He took part in the war in the battles of Musratah and Sirte. My husband had a bulletproof vest and a satellite phone before he left to Libya. He had to buy his own weapon, an AK47 (Kalashnikov) when he arrived in Libya. He received his battle training in Benghazi. After the battles in Musratah, he gained enough experience that he was training other freedom fighters who just joined the war to liberate their homeland from the tyrant.
During my husband’s stay in Libya, we tried to stay in touch but we weren’t always successful. We’d sometimes go for several days without talking to each other. During all that time while he was in Libya, I had a terrible time although I knew that he was fighting for a good cause but I was completely desperate. I was following the station from Mohammed Nabbous for inside information and TV channels such as Aljazeera, Sky News and BBC for other news. The wait for a telephone call from him was driving me crazy because sometimes I didn’t hear from him for a long time.
My husband and his other Libyan friends who live in Holland managed to send few ambulances and medicine to Libya. He almost was killed twice in Musratah. He lost some friends in the war against the tyrant. His last battle was the battle in Sirte where was almost killed again.
Praise to Allah, he is home with me again and working at his old job as a carpenter. He used to have some trouble with his memories from the war but now he is doing well Masha’ Allah.
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Fouad
In my opinion the February 17th Revolution was necessary because it was difficult for people to live in such miserable conditions that the tyrant’s system imposed on the country from the oppression, poverty, favoritism and repression. It became unreasonable to remain silent on the debauch of the tyrant by the distortion of the Holy Qur’an and the attack on the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). I was very happy by the Revolution and my feelings still have not changed even for one day even after almost a year later. I tried to follow all the revolution’s news and tried very hard to be a part of it since the very beginning. I went out with all Libyan men and women to the squares here in the Netherlands in the first demonstrations to demand the bringing down of the Qaddafi’s regime in the outside of Libya.
Carla, your husband is a hero. Leaving his life style for a war sounds amazing to me. What he did was a beautiful gesture. Completely unselfish. I wish you could replace your depression for pride. What your husband did had to be done and he did it. Its over. Don’t dwell on those memories. Think the happiness that millions of Libyans enjoy these days.
Comment by TheThinker1958 — February 23, 2012 @ 17:14
Best brother Fouad,
I read ur story and indeed u have do a lot for our Libya.
May God bless u . We are very proud of u.
Comment by Kaussar — February 24, 2012 @ 18:17