Life can take us in many unpredictable journeys. Take me for example. My name is Amira Anisah Rafiq. In another life, my name was Greta Von Rossbach. A six-foot-two, lean and athletic, blonde-haired and blue-eyed Caucasian woman living in the City of Riyadh, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I have been living there for more than twenty years now. I'm the wife of Mahmoud Abdul Rafiq, one of the wealthiest land owners in all of Saudi Arabia. I'm one of four wives he has, but I know I'm his favorite. I wear the burka everywhere I go, as is the law for women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Odd thing for a German-born woman to say, isn't it? A long time ago, I led a very different life. I was a captain in the German military. I was also a feminist and a former university athlete. Now I'm a devoted wife and mother. And a proud Muslim woman living in Saudi Arabia, the heartland of Islam. How did that come about?
Let me tell you all about it. My whole life, I've felt uncomfortable with my femininity. I think it's what drove me to become such an Amazon in my younger years. As the only daughter in a family of four guys, I was quite the tomboy. I always wanted to prove to the world and to myself that I was just as good if not better than most men. I studied at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, and I also excelled in wrestling, soccer and rugby as a university sportswoman. I once represented Germany in the sport of women's Greco-Roman Olympic wrestling. I used to wrestle both guys and girls in school back in the day. It toughened me up and turned me into one of the top female wrestlers in Europe. After graduating from the University of Heidelberg with a degree in civil engineering, I decided to join the German military forces. With my natural competitiveness, I soon rose to the rank of captain in an elite squad.
The German military forces often cooperate with American and Canadian soldiers, especially when it comes to operations in the Middle East. I found myself in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, one of only one hundred and forty six women in a German military unit composed of six hundred and eighty individuals. The higher ups in the German military briefed us female soldiers about what life was like for women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I grew disgusted when I was told that women couldn't drive or vote, or go anywhere without a male chaperone. What kind of madness was this? The female soldier/feminist icon in me seethed with rage. I found myself feeling really angry toward Saudi men for their resounding sexism. And here I thought German men were sexist. They're supremely progressive compared to Saudi men! I heard that at the time, the Pentagon asked American female soldiers to wear the Abaya while out in public in Saudi Arabia. I didn't want to wear the damn burka, so I remained on the German military base. Still, after months of doing nothing but repairing equipment, I ventured out with some friends. As we drove through the cities of Saudi Arabia, we found ourselves truly in another world. Everywhere we looked, men wore funny-looking white dresses and pink headgear while women wore long black cloaks, the damn burkas. I couldn't believe this shit. Still, what could I do?