 |
Sister Nikla Franssens Sister Nikla Franssens is one of 650 Medical Mission Sisters in 19 nations trying to be present to others in the spirit of Jesus the Healer. One of our pioneers, Dutch Sister Nikla first met the Medical Mission Sisters in Osterley, England, in 1938. During her postulancy, she lived with an international group of Sisters from Germany, England, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the U.S. She then traveled to the U.S. for her novitiate. “We received very inspiring talks from (our foundress) Mother Dengel about our first mission in Rawalpindi, how to adjust in a new country, and the importance of learning the language,” she remembers. “I was so fascinated I started learning Urdu.” Because of World War II, Sister Nikla and three other new Sisters had to travel the long way, across the Pacific Ocean. “After two months we arrived in Rawalpindi, then still British India, where we had a small hospital and a nurse’s training school,” she recalls. After five years in Rawalpindi, Sister Nikla was missioned to Kottayam, South India, then to Dacca. “On home leave, I always went first to my family in the Netherlands, and then to England for retreat and renewal courses,” she explains. “In England, I met a social worker who had been in India and now worked in Coventry for the immigrants from Pakistan and India.” After almost thirty years of mission in Asia, Sister Nikla requested a return to England to work with the immigrants. “I lived with an Indian Sikh family who had started a home industry. After a short time I was asked by the Birmingham Christian Council of Churches to join their staff at the community center, a very pleasant group to work with.” After retirement, Sister Nikla helped a parish visitors group in Ealing. Now age 93, Sister Nikla celebrated the 65th anniversary of her profession as a Medical Mission Sister in August, 2006. She lives with four of our Sisters in a house for elderly religious in Warmond, The Netherlands, which she describes as, “a lovely small place in the country.”
home
|
|
|
||||||||
