Hero

Kostas Karvelis, photo by Kostas Andreou

Eight years ago I used this photo made by Kostas Andreou to tell skopelosnews readers about Mr. Kostas Karvelis who was 80 years old at the time and still working as a goat herder with his son Pandelis. Unfortunately Pandelis has since died but Mr. Kostas is still going strong.

Today he is 88 years old and you can still find him, with his big goat herd, in the Pirgos area.

Every morning, very early, he will walk from the village of Elios up to the Pirgos area to the herd. It takes him 1,5 hours o get up the hill. He then will walk all day in the area of Pirgos with the goats and in the late afternoon, after the work has been done, he will walk down to Elios again. Maybe in less than 1,5 hours because it is downhill.

We found Mr. Kostas on the road near the small Agios Riginos church in Pirgos this afternoon around 4 o’ clock and passed him with the car but my husband said:” stop! I think we can give him a lift”.

And he gladly accepted. 88 years old and still working so hard. Mr. Kostas probably does not know what life without work is. He probably would not know what to do with himself. He has been with the goats since he was 12. He married. He has three daughters. The car that his son left behind he cannot drive, never learned to. We saw it outside his house when we dropped him off.

But he is a hero for me and my husband. I feel humbled that I know him a little. Just the way he is. A no nonsense guy. Work needs to be done. People need milk and meat. I provide it he says.