Bangalore’s ’Mother Teresa’ can now stay in India as long as she likes

www.mangaloretoday.com

Bangalore, July 25, 2011: There is good news for the poor, unwell and worried people of Sumanahalli in Bangalore. They will not have to say goodbye to Sister Jean after all. She can now stay in India as long as she likes.

Home Minister P Chidambaram has intervened to restore visa "without limit of time" for British-born Catholic nun Jacqueline Jean McEwan, known here as Sister Jean. She had been asked to leave the country after her residence permit was not renewed by the government this year.

The Home Minister said the notice for her to leave India, issued by the Foreign Regional Registration Office (FRRO), was a mistake.

 

Sister Jean came to India in 1982 through a Commonwealth agreement as a medic. Since then, the nun, popularly known as the Mother Teresa of Sumanahalli, has lived in Bangalore and has run a mobile clinic for leprosy patients.
 
Every year since she arrived in India, she would have her residence permit renewed. This year, however, the government did not renew the permit and she was asked the leave the country by Monday, July 25. Then, on Monday, she was granted a month’s extension.

The leprosy patients and families she has been helping for almost 30 years hoped fervently that a permanent solution would ensure they did not lose her. But Sister Jean had begun to say goodbye.

"Yesterday, I went to Sumanahalli. The patients came and greeted me and one of the patients gave me a ring and a little cross...They welcomed me with garlands and bunches of flowers... all of them were crying. It was so sad," she told NDTV.

The nun also said that, "I have got more from my patients and my people here...more than what I have given." And hoped she would be permitted to continue serving the poor. Now, she can.
 
Sister Jean supervises a mobile clinic run by an NGO, the Society for the Welfare and Rehabilitation of Leprosy Patients. The organisation has residential accommodation for about 120 poor leprosy patients and the mobile clinic looks after about 1,000 leprosy patients in the village in the heart of the city with funds from donors, trusts and philanthropic organisations and individuals.

Courtesy: NDTV