Elderly Woman Living Alone On Remote Greek Island Gifted A Donkey To Keep Her Company

Donkey Greece_11222024_1 — An 80-year-old woman who lives on a remote island alone was recently gifted a donkey. Facebook

An 80-year-old woman, who has lived alone on an isolated Greek island since 2013, was recently gifted a donkey for companionship and for safe trekking.

Irene Katsotourchi, known to many as Mrs. Rinio, was born on Kinaros, a remote island 160 miles southeast of Athens. She returned to the island with her husband after living on Kalymnos, another Greek island, and spending time in Australia, according to reporting by The Greek Herald.

After her husband died in 2013, Mrs. Rinio became the sole inhabitant of the island. She has a dog, but wanted a donkey too. Journalist Vasilios Saribalidis heard her wish and made it happen.

Donkey Greece_11222024_2 — Mrs. Rinio, her dog and the journalist who gifted her a donkey. Facebook

"After a long time, great effort and many friends who believed that we could keep our promise, the donkey that Mrs. Rinio had asked for, has arrived at its new home," Saribalidis wrote in a Facebook post.

Saribalidis added that it took two Yamaha jet skis to deliver the donkey, but he got to see "up close the joy that the heroine of the Aegean got."