“Our human compassion binds us the one to the other – not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.”– Nelson Mandela
On a pleasant eve of March 8, 1960, a 31-year-old beautiful German missionary lady lands at Karachi airport on a routine flight stopover, on her way to India. She was being sent to a Mission Station in India by her Congregation but due to some visa problems she had to break her journey in Karachi.
As there was a delay in obtaining Indian visa the lady wished to utilize this time by seeing the leprosy patients in Karachi. She was taken to Lepers’ Colony near the then McLeod Road, today’s I. I. Chundrigar Road, behind City Railway Station.
This visit immensely touched her heart and she instantly changed her mind to continue her scheduled travel to India and decided to dedicate rest of her life in treating and caring patients suffering from leprosy, in a little hut. Leprosy being considered as a highly contagious disease left these patients as either abandoned by their families or locked in small rooms for lifetime.
Over five decades of her matchless services to humanity, she certainly proved that she was a person who knew no limits, be them cultural, linguistic or religious, through her selfless services for the needy that approached her from any quarter.
She was none other but Dr. Ruth Katherina Martha Pfau, born on September 9, 1929 in Leipzig, Germany. Her home was destroyed during Second World War due to bombing. She moved to West Germany with her family and studied medicine at University of Mainz.
During this period Dr. Pfau was highly impressed by a Dutch lady who was a camp survivor and had dedicated her life to “preaching love and forgiveness”. After completing her clinical examination, Dr Pfau moved to Marburg to carry on her clinical studies.
It might look easier to say, but indeed it’s a herculean task to convince yourself to spend your life in a country that is far less developed than yours, has a lesser infrastructure, far lesser literacy rate, has a language that you don’t even have a clue of, where majority practices a religion that’s not yours, more so when you are in your prime age of early 30’s and when whole world is open in front of you.
I have a firm belief that even most of the daring men will not step on such a decision rather than a young lady, not only taking it swiftly but proving her decision absolutely right through a dedicated life, merely spent in serving the needy ones.
Such was the strength of traits of her character and her burning passion to serve the humanity that prompted me to say that, “She came, she stayed and she won millions of hearts”. If one has to encapsulate the enduring services of Dr. Pfau for the humanity, in short space of this document, I must say it would be a real challenge, as it would need countless pages to do so.
To be precise, founding an empire in shape of Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre (MALC) and later expanding it for patients suffering from blindness and tuberculosis, embarking on social work and rehabilitation program for the leprosy patients and their family members, collecting donations in Germany and Pakistan and cooperating with hospitals in Karachi and Rawalpindi, are just a few highlights.
Even at her elderly age, she had a long practice of travelling to distant and remote areas of Pakistan where there were no medical facilities for leprosy patients. Her untiring efforts eventually resulted in establishing 157 leprosy clinics across Pakistan, benefitting over 60,000 people.
It was only due to dedicated efforts of Dr. Pfau that World Health Organization declared Pakistan as one of the first countries in Asia to have controlled leprosy in 1996 as the number of leprosy cases had dropped significantly in the country by then. Such was her deep love with this country of ours that once she said, “If I were to be reincarnated, I would like to be in Pakistan again.”
It was only due to her loving person that under its CSR Initiatives, my organization Sui Southern Gas Company started collaborating with MALC in the year 2005, an association that now proudly spans over 15 years, supporting MALC’s two medical centers, one each in Mirpurkhas and in Gwadar. I often recall with great fondness, all those instances when I got the opportunity to meet this celebrated human being, at SSGC, at MALC and in the social events projecting any healthcare cause.
As a firm believer that sports bring people closer, she once wished to stage series of cricket matches between MALC and SSGC that were duly played under a great level of sportsman spirit. For me, her most noticeable memory always remained her smile that used to decorate her graceful face.
The only common gist of our conversations remained her wish to love the humans, to care for their problems and to never leave them in despair, especially if you are in a position to facilitate them.
As a responsible state, Pakistan never failed to recognize the laborious efforts of Dr. Pfau and duly honored by decorating her with distinctive medals such as Hilal-e-Pakistan, Hilal-e-Imtiaz, Nishane-Quaid-e-Azam and Sitara-e-Quaid-e-Azam. In 1979 Dr. Pfau was appointed as Federal Advisor on Leprosy to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Government of Pakistan and in recognition of her remarkable service to the country, she was conferred with citizenship of Pakistan in 1988.
(To be continued on Sunday)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
The writer is Head of Corporate Communications and CSR, SSGC
Comments
Comments are closed.