Go East, young woman!

I know you haven’t always lived in Yuvacalı. Tell me how you first came to be in Turkey.

I came to Turkey for the first time in 1990. After studying English and Irish Literature at Oxford University, I’d started a career in banking, then left to travel to India. Turkey was on the way. Then in 1992 I moved to İstanbul and started a lucrative career first teaching English and then teaching Turkish to other expats. I met Ömer in İstanbul in 2002 and we married in Urfa in 2003.

Why did you decide to move to Yuvacalı?

After our marriage my husband and I continued to live in İstanbul but I had been given 25 dönüms (acres) of land here as a dowry. Ömer still felt that he had a connection with his birthplace, and we started to think about getting a preschool into the village and perhaps starting some reverse migration back from the cities. Eventually we decided to move here and plant a pomegranate farm. Unfortunately the trees turned out to need continuous irrigation, which wasn’t possible here. So now we’ve planted the land with almond trees instead. They should start to give fruit next year. We built a house here three years ago. It’s designed traditionally with a big hall and men’s room, but with all the mod cons as well.

That can’t have been easy.

No. The stonemasons had to come from Urfa and they stayed with us for a whole year. Some things we wanted such as wall insulation from Artex were a complete novelty to them, and once they went on strike because I wanted the kitchen windows built higher up than they thought normal. The double-glazing was delivered here by the köy postası (the village postal service, since disbanded) but a sheep kicked a hole in one of the panels!

I know you arrange home-stays to the village now. How did that come about?

When we arrived here we had all sorts of ambitions, philanthropic as well as economic. At first I started to involve some of the women in crocheting ponchos that were sold through a shop called Treehouse in Kemerburgaz in İstanbul that makes donations to the village. Although some of the proceeds came back here and the women enjoyed the work, especially in winter when it helped supplement meager farming incomes, it wasn’t a big money-spinner, certainly not enough to change lives on its own. Then I was approached by the Australian tour company Intrepid Travel. They wanted to organize home-stays in Urfa for their clients and thought I could help. I suggested Yuvacalı instead and in April 2009 we received our first guests -- three tourists and their guide. We were so nervous in case it was awful and a disaster but people loved it and the guides said it was the most authentic home-stay they’d ever been on. Some of the Intrepid tours are now being rerouted to come through here because people were so happy.

What for you are the positive aspects of living in such a remote place?

Both the support of the extended family network and the extra time I can give to my nuclear family (daughter India was born in 2008) are big benefits, but I also value the lack of materialism and freedom from the constraints of city life. All that focus on clothes, age, weight etc. I used to go to the hairdresser every day. Now I save lots of time and money.

And the cons?

The lack of shops! The nearest Marks and Spencer is in Gaziantep. Even buying a pair of shoes is hard and I’m tall, so finding suitably long skirts is also a problem. It was especially tough with a baby. We usually bulk-buy food staples, although most stuff is made here at home. It might be a problem that I’m expected not to go out unaccompanied, but where would I go anyway? Otherwise, the frequent power cuts can mean no water as well. There’s no postal service here. Oh, and it’s physically tough with summer temperatures up to 48 degrees.

Of course I have to ask about your headscarf...