03:36Pushing the envelope! Meet the 83-yo postwoman with a 48km route!
Eighty-three-year-old Ekaterina Dzalaeva-Otaraeva has been treading her 48-kilometre (30-mile) delivery route to the remote North Ossetian village of Tsey three times a week for half a century.
“When I was a little girl, one senior man worked as a postman. And all the people were waiting for him. It was during the war. And I was among those who ran towards him,” Ekaterina recalled, adding that she hoped to bring letters home to her family from her brother and make them happy.
The hardy postwoman gave up school in 1958 because there was no one to cut the hay at the time. While she was busy working the land, Ekaterina missed the enrolment period for her local school.
“Then I noticed that there was no postman at the post office. I asked the manager to employ me. He asked me if I was able to work. And I said that I would try to,” Ekaterina said, presumably not imagining at the time that she would still be doing the same job in 2019.
She has become somewhat of a local celebrity and is warmly greeted by the residents of the village of Tsey.
“I’ve known her for 50 years already. She is always very friendly and active and responsible. She is not lazy. She had a very difficult and complicated fate,” local resident Zarina Vanieva said, adding that Ekaterina even selflessly helped her father get through the difficulty of losing his wife by bringing him newspapers to read and taking the time to sit with him.
Ekaterina admits that she does feel weak from time to time, but has no plans to give up yet.
03:36Eighty-three-year-old Ekaterina Dzalaeva-Otaraeva has been treading her 48-kilometre (30-mile) delivery route to the remote North Ossetian village of Tsey three times a week for half a century.
“When I was a little girl, one senior man worked as a postman. And all the people were waiting for him. It was during the war. And I was among those who ran towards him,” Ekaterina recalled, adding that she hoped to bring letters home to her family from her brother and make them happy.
The hardy postwoman gave up school in 1958 because there was no one to cut the hay at the time. While she was busy working the land, Ekaterina missed the enrolment period for her local school.
“Then I noticed that there was no postman at the post office. I asked the manager to employ me. He asked me if I was able to work. And I said that I would try to,” Ekaterina said, presumably not imagining at the time that she would still be doing the same job in 2019.
She has become somewhat of a local celebrity and is warmly greeted by the residents of the village of Tsey.
“I’ve known her for 50 years already. She is always very friendly and active and responsible. She is not lazy. She had a very difficult and complicated fate,” local resident Zarina Vanieva said, adding that Ekaterina even selflessly helped her father get through the difficulty of losing his wife by bringing him newspapers to read and taking the time to sit with him.
Ekaterina admits that she does feel weak from time to time, but has no plans to give up yet.