source
Agafia Lykova has grown up completely isolated from modern civilization. Her parents were very religious and feared persecution when Josef Stalin came into power. So, they fled into the uninhabited wilderness of Siberia and never interacted with modern civilization again. They were so isolated that they had no idea World War II happened. Lykova was suffering from severe leg pain and called for help via an emergency satellite telephone; authorities airlifted her to a nearby hospital. She is finally interacting with the outside world for the first time in her life – at 71 years old.
Born in isolation
Agafia’s father, Karp, was a devoutly religious man. He was an Old Believer, which is a sect of Russian Orthodoxy that broke off in the 1600s to protest reforms. There was already prejudice against this religion, but it got even worse once the Bolsheviks seized power. When his brother was killed by a Communist patrol, Karp decided it was time to leave. In 1936, he took his wife Akulina, his nine-year-old son Savin, and his two-year-old daughter Natalia deep into the wilderness and never looked back. They gathered everything they could carry plus some seeds so they could plant a garden and settled in the Sayan mountains, near the Mongolian border. The youngest children, Dmitry and Agafia, were born isolated from society. They had never interacted with anyone else besides their family and had never seen the outside world; their only knowledge of it came from stories.
{adinserter CNP5}
A tough life
The Siberian climate is brutal. Temperatures can reach all the way down to -40C°. The family had no outside resources like guns to use – the closest human settlement was a two week walk away. They had no guns nor salt. They were not able to eat meat until Dmitry became old enough to hunt, and even then it was scarce.
“We ate the rowanberry leaf, roots, grass, mushrooms, potato tops, and bark,” Afafia remembered. “We were hungry all the time. Every year we held a council to decide whether to eat everything up or leave some for seed.”
In 1961, a June frost killed their garden. It got so bad that they even ate their own shoes. Akulina starved to death while making sure her children were fed.
They were eventually discovered by geologists
The family’s total isolation lasted until 1978, when a team of Soviet geologists flew over the mountains. The geologists informed the family that Stalin was dead, that Russia had fought in World War II, that men had landed on the moon, and told them all about the Soviet Union. Karp refused to believe that men walked on the moon, but enjoyed hearing about the innovations that were being made in the civilized world. At first, they only accepted salt from the scientists. But gradually they accepted more tools and supplies to make their lives a little easier.
The only one left
Savin and Natalia died from kidney failure. Dmitry died of pneumonia and declined medical attention when the geologists offered. The scientists tried to convince Agafia and her father to return to society, but they would not budge. Karp died peacefully in his sleep in 1988, leaving Agafia all alone. Until her transport to the hospital, she was completely self-sufficient. She does not feel lonely.
“A Christian can never be lonely. Every Christian has their guardian angel as well as Christ and the Apostles. I have an icon that has been blessed. I am never lonely as I always have Christ with me,” she said.
Doctors believe her pain was due to cartilage deterioration. They treated it and are keeping her in the hospital for the next week; they expect her to return home once she has recovered. She had only one message for civilization:
“The world is going to ruin; I feel it is my duty to share my faith with those who come here.”
SEE ALSO: World’s Oldest Person Is 116 Years Old And She Eats Bacon Every Day.
