Simply wanting to see the Egyptian pyramids, the sister of a WSU student got more than she bargained for when she took a detour from her study abroad program destination.
Danielle Fulfs has reached the safety of Istanbul after spending three days in a Cairo airport amid riots as protesters rallied for Egypt President Hosni Mubarak to resign and leave the country.
The 19-year-old junior studying African politics at Loyola University Chicago decided to study abroad in Uganda to research people in oppressed nations, said her sister Mikaila Fulfs, a senior wine business management major at WSU.
"She's always been the kind of person who likes to give," Mikaila said.
Danielle chose to study in Uganda because she wanted to go somewhere exotic, Mikaila said. "She fell in love with Africa," she said. "My mom calls (Danielle) her little hippie."
Mikaila said her sister did not think visiting the Egyptian pyramids would be dangerous, but during Danielle's first full day in Cairo, riots broke out.
Danielle's latest post to her blog on Jan. 27 read, "Hello! It's an exciting time in Egypt! There are supposed to be some impressive protests tomorrow after prayers, and the government seems to have blocked Facebook. I wanted to let everyone know that I am well. I will post about my visits to the pyramids tomorrow. Bedtime!"
Riots broke out the next day.
When Danielle called her mother for the first time after cell phone service returned, her voice was raspy from teargas, Mikaila said.
"I didn't sleep for four days, trying to get her out of there," said her mother, who preferred to remain anonymous.
When the violence in Cairo began to escalate, her mother said she became very worried. She thought, "Things are just blowing up, and I have no idea where my daughter is," she said.
When Danielle reached the airport, flights out of the city had been canceled, she said.
Her mother said Danielle attended a small protest near her hostel.
The next day, Danielle and her mother were considering trying to get Danielle to a safer place in a wealthy neighborhood in the Gaza Strip.
However, after hundreds of prisoners escaped and swarmed the city, Danielle told her mother she did not want to leave the safety of the airport terminal.
Then Danielle met a woman at the airport who said she had a friend who was a pilot and they could get her a seat.
Her mother said the woman did not keep her promise, abandoning Danielle at the airport.
Her mother tried to contact the U.S. Embassy without much luck, but finally got a hold of the State Department. Danielle was soon scheduled to fly out of Cairo on an embassy flight, but learned she had been waiting in the wrong terminal.
Amid the rioters, Danielle was forced to hail a taxi to the correct terminal, only to be turned away when she arrived. Airport officials refused to let her in, and Danielle was forced to sleep outside without food, water or bathroom facilities until the terminal opened.
Meanwhile, her mother heard rumors of terrorist attacks and was worried for her daughter's life.
"I started thinking about car bombs," she said.
Danielle safely caught the first embassy flight out of Cairo and is staying in an Istanbul hotel.
Her mother and father have asked her to stay in Istanbul for a few more days to "decompress," said her mother.
"She will, I think, end up with some type of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) from this," she said.
Her mother said Danielle is unsure whether she wants to continue with her plan to study in Uganda after the stressful ordeal.