Sister Borowka, carer for lepers<\/p>\n
P.J.Leo, The Jakarta Post, Alor, East Nusa Tenggara<\/p>\n
The people of these remote islands affectionately call her Mama
\nPutih (White mama). Mama, because she treats the people like a
\ncaring mother, and white because Sister Gisela Borowka hails from
\nGermany and has lighter skin than the local people.<\/p>\n
Sister Borowka has become part of the local community since
\nshe set foot in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) in 1963 and started
\ndedicating her life to the lepers and the orphans on Lewoleba,
\nLembata and Kalabahi districts.<\/p>\n
Born in Neisse, in the eastern part of Germany, in August
\n1934, Borowka has been greatly inspired by the humanitarian work
\nof Damian Yosef de Veuster, a Belgian priest who worked with the
\nlepers in the Society Islands, now Hawaii. Damian died among the
\npeople he served on April 25, 1889.<\/p>\n
\"When I was at the primary school, I loved to read books on
\nDamian Yosef de Damian Damian de Melaatse (Damian, the Leper's
\nHero). Many children of my age spent a lot of their time reading
\nthe book in the library,\" Borowka told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
\"The book was really touching. It made me wonder if leprosy
\nstill existed. Were lepers still isolated by their communities as
\nDamian said in the book. Had medicines been discovered?<\/p>\n
\"Then I wanted to follow in Damian's footsteps. I would wake
\nup and wonder if I could do what Damian did while my mind was
\nstuck on the lepers' island of Molokai where Damian spent most of
\nhis life.\"<\/p>\n
Borowka worked at a kindergarten as a teaching assistant after
\nhigh school. In 1952 she continued her studies in Catholicism and
\nwent on to do a church internship.<\/p>\n
She prayed for a place to serve the poor and her prayers were
\neventually answered. While she was working in the church library,
\nshe stumbled upon an old calendar with pictures of nurses taking
\ncare of children in Africa and India.<\/p>\n
Then she learned of Missionsaerztliche Klinik, a hospital in
\nthe then West German town of Wuezburg which ran a nursing school
\nand sent its alumni to Asia and Africa.<\/p>\n
\"But the problem was that I lived in East Germany and could
\nnot go to West Germany,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Again, God answered her prayers. In 1954, she became a member
\nof a delegation to participate in a congress in Fulda, West
\nGermany, and used the opportunity to visit Missionsaerztliche
\nKlinik. She was delighted that she was admitted to study there.<\/p>\n
To get clearance, she told the police and the church that she
\nwould go on a holiday \"for a few weeks\" in West Germany. She also
\nhad to keep the truth from her parents or the strict East German
\nauthorities could foil her plans.<\/p>\n
It was in Missionsaerztliche Klinik that she met an Indonesian
\nnun, Sister Isabella Diaz Gonzales, who had been there for six
\nmonths to study the German language and medicine.<\/p>\n
\"Isabella told me a lot about Indonesia and about the many
\nlepers excommunicated from their communities, the same as the
\nlepers in Molokai experienced 100 years before,\" Borowka said.<\/p>\n
Isabella's stories opened up her mind and they were a dream
\ncome true: A leper caregiver telling her own experience.<\/p>\n
\"Then Isabella and I vowed to work together in serving the
\nlepers in Indonesia some day,\" Borowka said.<\/p>\n
After finishing her studies, she worked for a private hospital
\njust outside Wuezberg, while Isabella continued her studies.<\/p>\n
One day, Isabella sent her a letter telling her of an
\norganization called Deutsches Aussaetzigen-Hgilfswerk (German
\nLeprosy Relief Association), which had just been formed in
\nWuezburg. Its mission was to help lepers in Ethiopia.<\/p>\n
Borowka joined the organization and left for Africa in 1958.
\nHer assignment was to take care of 500 lepers and their families
\nwho had been moved to the jungle by their communities in Bisidimo
\ndistrict.<\/p>\n
After three years in Ethiopia, she returned to West Germany to
\nhonor her promise of working in Indonesia with Sister Isabella.<\/p>\n
Borowka left for Indonesia on June 1, 1963 on a Dutch freight
\nship Leverkusen from Amsterdam to Surabaya before she continued
\nher journey to East Nusa Tenggara.<\/p>\n
She arrived at Lewoleba port, East Nusa Tenggara, on Aug. 28,
\n1963 and was reunited with Isabella.<\/p>\n
\"What we vowed a long time previously had finally become a
\nreality. Then we went to a house. Isabella woke everyone up. In
\nthe dark, I shook hands with them.<\/p>\n
\"I realized that the hosts were the lepers: The hands that I
\ngrabbed had no fingers or the remaining fingers were crooked.
\nTheir hands were cold.\"<\/p>\n
The lepers called Isabella \"Mama hitam\" (black mama) and
\nBorowka \"Mama putih\" (white mama.)<\/p>\n
The humanitarian work of Borowka, now living on Alor island,
\nand Isabella, now living in Lewoleba, has been a success story.<\/p>\n
Now that leprosy is no longer prevalent in East Nusa Tenggara,
\nBorowka, who became an Indonesian citizen in 1996, has shifted
\nher focus to orphans. She has established Damian Orphanage in
\nKalabahi, Alor Island, named after the pastor of her inspiration.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/sister-borowka-carer-for-lepers-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}