The villages of the islands are quiet in the winter. It’s a very stark contrast. “Kakos Chamos” (really crowded) in the summer, but hardly five houses are open in the winter.

I was returning early one winter Saturday morning from Arnados, Tinos. I told my dear friend Ioulia that I would stop by for a coffee before going to the Saturday clinic. Unlike in the summer, I parked very quickly on the main road, right below the tavern of my friend Vangelis Desypris. I hastily observed the cats in the bins and climbed up to the village square. The Two Villages of Tinos are charming. The silence was interrupted by her crying. A repeated ‘meow’ of a tiny kitten indicates that it is in need. I followed the sound which came from the veranda of a closed house. I climbed the side wall and found myself there. There, I first saw Ioulia, as she was later called. Unknown for what reason, maybe in search of a warm shelter, she was trapped in a big flowerpot from which I caught her quickly but with care because the teeth of small cats are like needles.

Like most kittens that reach my hands, Ioulia went through a healing period. It is the period where we try to heal their body and soul and get them to the stage of adoption, i.e. ‘ready for a home’. After spending some time at the veterinary clinic in Tinos, she was transferred to our veterinary clinic in Syros. Very soon, there was interest from a good lady in Corinth, but what is usually very easy for us, to send an animal to Piraeus, turned out to be very difficult during the lockdown period. So the lady found another kitten, and I don’t blame her since she waited a long time, and Ioulia remained in the cage.

Our partner and member of We Live Together, Rosalia Perri, took it personally. Determined to find a home, she posted Ioulia’s news every day, thus reaching the eyes of our audience every day. Dimitris and Thomas from Syros made a difference in her life, and thus, Ioulia’s cage went down in history. It is now in safe hands and to her forever home.