Ex-Dschungelkind Sabine Kuegler über Überlebenswillen und Hoffnung als sie dachte, sie müsse sterben

The author of the worldwide bestseller "Jungle Child" grew up in the jungles of Papua New Guinea. She has lived in Europe since the age of 17, but the jungle caught up with her again when she became seriously ill, leaving Western medicine baffled: "I was traveling a lot in areas of the jungle that were still partly unexplored. And the assumption is that I caught some kind of parasite." Her last hope: finding help in the jungle. Kuegler, a mother of four, faced a difficult decision: "Either I stay here with my children, who were still relatively young, and spend my last days with them. Or I go back to where I probably contracted the disease, into the jungle among the tribes, to find out if there is a cure there." For the next four years, she embarked on a search with tribal chief Micky, which took her from one village to the next: "We always asked: Do you know the symptoms? And they said: Yeah, no, but we might have something. I took everything, swallowed everything they gave me. Sometimes it helped for a while. And then the symptoms came back. (...) I reached the point where I simply gave up hope." But then she received a call from Papua New Guinea. In a still-unexplored area of ​​the mountains, she not only regained her health but also gained a new perspective on life. "I always felt like I was free again. All the pressure we have here, the stress, was all gone. And I pretty much lost myself there." Kuegler feels torn between two worlds. But eventually, she returns to Germany. What was it like to finally hold her children in her arms again after four years? "An incredible feeling, of course!" Current book: I no longer swim where the crocodiles are (@WestendVerlag) 01:26 "We can't do anything more for you" 08:20 Dealing with death 14:15 "I had given up hope" 19:20 Between cultures