Devi Asmadiredja, a German woman of Indonesian descent has found refuge in the remote mountains of the Caucasus. Born in East Germany she lived in Germany as a normal housewife, married to a Chechen. In 2011 he told her to go to Pankisi, a Georgian valley, bordering the Chechnyan Republic to learn his language. As she had never travelled before, she looked forward to going away. The only problem was to leave the three children - then five, eight, and 12 - behind. Eighteen months later Devis husband told her not to return, saying he wanted to move on without her. She remained in the region, living from hand to mouth, wandering from one village to another. She learnt to speak the language and gradually fell in love with the mountains. She also said, the harsh circumstances, the solitude and mountain life brought her fulfilment. She describes her life in a restive region know for radical Islam and the living conditions for someone, who is a woman and a foreigner. At first she was viewed with suspicion, but gradually accepted by the loclas. Now she works for a German travel agency to guide hikers through the Caucasus, a region where neither English nor German is widely spoken. She has even found a partner, a Georgian cowherd. They plan to marry. As she is still legally married to her Chechnyan husband in Germany, she then thinks about the family she had left behind. Two of her younger children are now in foster care. Her elder daughter from an earlier relationship lives with her father. She doesnt intend to go back to Germany and fight for the custody of her children. Theres no guarantee that she would win. Besides she doesnt want to leave the mountains, which mean so much to her now. Indeed Central Asia and Siberian have always fascinated mankind in history.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 15:58:34 +0000