A 93-Year-Old Grandma Is Flying To Kenya To Volunteer At An Orphanage
Norma Irma had been giving donations to an orphanage founded by an Italian missionary for years. This year, donations weren’t enough.
Norma’s granddaughter, Elisa Coltro, wrote a post about her grandmother’s inspiring story on Facebook with photos sent from her mother, who is accompanying Norma on her journey.
Coltro wrote, “This is my grandma Irma, a young lady of 93, who set off for Kenya tonight. Not to some tourist resort to be waited on hand and foot, but to go to a village of children, in an orphanage. I’m showing her to you because I believe that all of us should always keep a dash of recklessness in order to live and not just survive. Look at her… Who’s stopping her? I love her.”
Norma and her daughter are planning to stay in Kenya for three weeks.
“Or perhaps my grandma will decide to stay and won’t come back,” Coltro told Italian newspaper La Repubblica. “It’s entirely possible, knowing her big heart and her energy.”
Nonna Irma has become something of a celebrity in her native Italy after her proud granddaughter shared her story this week.
Irma, who lost her husband at 26 and later one of her three children, has spent her life helping people close to her, according to her granddaughter, who has done voluntary work herself in refugee camps in Greece.
Coltro said, “My grandma has always loved life and has never let anything stop her, she has always been an example for me.”