TURA: Sister Guadalupe’s contribution to the society here is no less than St. Teresa. Sixty-six years ago, the Catholic Missionary took upon herself the task of protecting a section of the society that hitherto remained ostracised.
Now, with Sr. Guadalupe’s support and love, the lepers in the region have found hope.
In honour of her 66 years of service in Garo Hills, the longest by any Catholic Missionary, Sr. Guadalupe was felicitated on the occasion of International Women’s Day at a programme at Dikki Bandi Stadium in Dakopgre.
Sr. Guadalupe was a young nun when she came to Tura from Nagaland in 1950 and made Garo Hills her home.
Within a year, the young Spanish nun from the congregation of the Missionaries of Christ Jesus became active in saving the lives of the suffering souls in Garo Hills’ leper colony in Tura.
It was an extremely difficult time for Sr. Guadalupe as there were only two other helpers to assist her in her work with the lepers.
“When I first went to the colony I was moved to see so many patients suffering from the disease. Many of the patients were covered in wounds all over their bodies. Our day began early morning and sometimes stretched into the late evening hours,” Sr. Guadalupe had said in an earlier interview with The Shillong Times.
The decades of hard work and the support given by friends and well-wishers of Sr. Guadalupe has helped in transforming the lives of the lepers. Today they successfully cultivate pineapples and their produce is the most sought after not just in Garo Hills but beyond Assam as well.
There is also a primary school successfully running in the colony and some of the children whose parents suffered from the disease have achieved success in life.
