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Sister Laetitia Aerthayil Sister Laetitia is one of 650 Medical Mission Sisters in 19 nations trying to be present to others in the spirit of Jesus the Healer. The first of 10 children, Sister Laetitia was born and raised in Changanacherry, South India. "Being the eldest in the family, I had to take much responsibility early in life," she explains. When she attended a new women's college, she recalls, "I spent 6 months between the exams in a convent school. The close contact with the nuns influenced my life … the whole idea of mission to serve the poor in distant lands began stirring in my mind." She joined Medical Mission Sisters in 1954 in Kottayam, South India. For 6 years, Sister Laetitia worked with women considering religious life in Kottayam. She then went on to serve as a treasurer, bookkeeper, and formation coordinator. In 1975, she began mission with the Garo tribe of North East India. "Their simplicity, hospitality, and spirit of sharing in the midst of poverty touched me, and made me reflect on my own beliefs and value systems," she says. In 1983, when our worldwide offices were moved from Rome to London, Sister Laetitia volunteered for mission in England. "The multicultural, multifaith, and other realities of the developed world with its richness as well as its problems, was an eye-opener to me," she remembers. "As part of my ministry, I was very active in interfaith programs. I learned much about other faiths, and learned to appreciate them." Sister Laetitia began doing vocation and formation work in North East India in 1992. She served for 5 years at a study house for tribal women, and for 6 years as District Coordinator. In February, 2005, Sister Laetitia and Sister Cicily Nedungattu began a new mission in the state of Assam. They are working and living with the people of the Bodo tribe in Kajalgaon, in the diocese of Bongaigaon. "Every encounter with a particular tribe is an opportunity to learn something of its rich culture," she says.
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