PAGE 12
August 2012
Dutch Courier
GISELA BOROWKA, CARER FOR LEPERS
By Bill de Riter Foster Parents Indonesia On two visits to the remote island of Alor we were privileged to be the guests at DAMIAN orphanage and witness the work of Sr. Gisela Borowka. In reality this woman of such great stature is also a very gentle and caring “mother”, as confirmed by the only name she is affectionately known by in the islands, “MAMA PUTIH” (White Mother). Below more about her remarkable story. The people of these remote islands affectionately call her “Mama Putih” (white Mama). Mama because she treats the people like a caring mother, and white because Sister Gisela hails from Germany and has lighter skin than the local people Sr. Gisela has become part of the local community since she set by their communities, as Damian said in the book. Had medicines been discovered? Then I wanted to follow in Damian’s footsteps. I would wake up and wonder if I could do what Damian did, while my mind was stuck on the leper’s island of Molokai, where Damian spent most of his life, and died of the dreaded disease. Gisela worked at a kindergarten as a teaching assistant after high school in 1952. She continued her studies in religion and went on to do a church internship. She prayed for a place to serve the poor, and her prayers were eventually answered. While she was working in the church library, she stumbled upon an old calendar with pictures of nurses taking care of children in Africa and India. Then she learned of
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authorities could foil her plans. It was in Missionsaerztliche Klinik that she met an Indonesian Nun, Sister Isabella Diaz Gonzales who had been there to study the German language and
in the dark. I shook hands with them. I realized that the hosts were the lepers, the hands that I grabbed had no fi ngers, or the remaining fi ngers were crooked and cold.
foot in East Nusa Tengara (NTT) in 1963 and starting dedicating her life to the lepers and orphans on the islands of Lewoleba, Lembata and Alor. Born in Neisse, in the eastern part of Germany in August 1934, Sr. Gisela had been greatly inspired by the humanitarian work of Damian Josef de Veuster, a Belgian priest, who worked with the lepers in the Society islands, now Hawaii. When I was
Missionsaerztliche Klinik, a hospital in the then West German town of Wuezburg which ran a nursing school and sent its alumni to Asia and Africa. But the problem was, that I lived in East Germany and could not go to West Germany. Again God answered her prayers. In 1954, she became a member of a delegation to participate in a congress in Fulda, West Germany, and used the opportunity to
at primary school I loved reading books on Damian Josef the leper (Damian the leper’s hero). Many children of my age spent a lot of their time reading the book in the library, Gisela said. The book was really touching. It made me wonder if leprosy still existed. Were lepers still isolated
visit Missionsaerztliche Klinik. She was delighted that she was admitted to study there. To get a clearance, she told the police and the church, that she would go on a holiday `for a few weeks” in West Germany. She also had to keep the truth from her parents, or the strict East German
medicine. “Isabella told me a lot about Indonesia, and about the many lepers isolated from their communities, the same as the lepers experienced on Molokai one hundred years before”. Gisela said Isabella’s stories opened up her mind and they were a dream come true. A leper care giver talking about her own experiences. Then Isabella and I vowed to work together in serving the lepers in Indonesia some day. After fi nishing her studies, she worked for a private hospital just outside Wuezburg, while Isabella continued her studies. One day Isabella sent her a letter telling her of an organisation called German Leprosy Relief Association, which had just been formed in Wuezburg with its mission to help lepers in Ethiopia. Gisela joined the organisation and left for Africa in 1958. Her assignment was to take care of 500 lepers and their families, who had been moved to the jungle by their communities in Bisidimo district. After 3 years in Ethiopia she returned to West Germany to honor her promise of working in Indonesia with Sr. Isabella. Gisela left for Indonesia in June 1 1963 on a Dutch freighter “Leverkussen” from Amsterdam to Surabaya before she continued her journey to East Nusa Tenggara. She arrived at Lewoleba port, East Nusa Tenggara on 28 August 1963 and was reunited with Isabella. What we had promised a long time previously had fi nally become a reality. Then we went to a house and Isabella woke everyone up
The lepers called Isabella “Mama hitam” (black Mama) and Gisela “Mama putih (white Mama). The humanitarian work of Sr. Borowka, now living on Alor island and Sr. Isabella now living in Lewoleba has been a success story. Now that leprosy is no longer prevalent in East Nusa Tenggara, Sister Gisela Borowka, who became an Indonesian citizen in 1996 has shifted her focus to orphans. She has established Damian Orphanage in Kalabahi, Alor island named after the Pastor of her inspiration. Although Gisila is now an Indonesian citizen, she still has strong links with her country of birth as well as being an integral part of this remote but beautiful island of Alor and she would not be anywhere else. She has given so much to the people of Nusa Tenggara Timur, she has become an important part of its history for all time. There are 50 children in Damian orphanage, and they are fortunate to have a