Caroline Savage, U.S. Consul General in Almaty, told Manshuq about her work and career and about the U.S. Consulate General in Almaty.
Asya Akimzhanova
April 27th, 2022
I was born and raised in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. My father was a big history buff and my mother worked as a journalist in London and South Africa in the 1970s, before I was born. It was my parents who encouraged me to take advantage of the opportunities life gave me – for example, before my last year of high school I went to Yakutsk for the entire summer as part of an exchange program. It was a wonderful experience!
I lived with a Russian family, learned Russian, and traveled around the Sakhalin Region
This trip marked a turning point in my life and make me want to become a diplomat.
After that trip, I studied diplomacy at Georgetown University. I then went to study in Russia for a year, in St. Petersburg and Moscow, which I wholeheartedly fell in love with. That year I worked as an English teacher, lived with two host families, and my interest in learning about the development of the former Soviet republics grew. I worked in several countries of the former Soviet Union – Belarus, Azerbaijan, and Russia – and in each my knowledge of the Russian language, which I had studied for years, helped me considerably. When the opportunity arose to come to Almaty, I finally got my dream job.
The U.S. Consulate General in Almaty is the only one in Central Asia. As Consul General, I oversee more than 400 employees, including about 65 Americans and 360 Kazakhstanis.
Our responsibilities and areas of operation include three key domains:
