Sister Gertrude (Truus) Lemmens (14 July 1914 – 30 October 2000) was a Dutch

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

and founder of Dar-ul-Sukun (Home of Peace), a home for the

mentally handicapped Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation,Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signific ...

orphans An orphan (from the el, ορφανός, orphanós) is a child whose parents have died. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents due to death is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usuall ...

and the

aged Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. She received an award from the

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=s̤adr-i Pākiṣṭān), officially the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is the ceremonial head of state of Pakistan and the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces.Salesius Lemmens Salesius Lemmens, was a Dutch Franciscan friar who served as the Apostolic Prefect of the Catholic Church in Karachi, then a part of British India. He died at the age of 37 in a drowning accident. Early career Lemmens came from a large family an ...

OFM who served the city of Karachi from the mid-1930s until his death from accidental drowning in 1942 on an outing with the handicapped children. Young Sister Gertrude was already engaged to marry her fiancé back in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

who was a university professor there. Her fiancé came after her to Karachi to convince her and to take her back with him. But Gertrude Lemmens strongly felt committed to her work in Karachi. She refused to go back and broke off the engagement. Later she once explained that her fiancé had felt terrible but he was not angry.

Background

In October 1939, at the age of 25, Lemmens traveled from her hometown of

Venray Venray or Venraij (; li, Venroj) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg, the Netherlands. The municipality of Venray consists of 14 towns over an area of , with 43,494 inhabitants as o ...

in the Netherlands to visit her brother, Father Salesius Lemmens OFM, who was a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

serving what, at that time, were the

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

and

Baluchistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

s of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, but today are part of

. She had accompanied her brother for a month on his rounds of social work in under-privileged communities of Karachi. She came to be tremendously moved by how poor and needy some people were. After her return to her homeland, she felt compelled to live in a way which helped those in such poverty as she had seen. She returned to Karachi and joined the only

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

religious institute A religious institute is a type of institute of consecrated life in the Catholic Church whose members take religious vows and lead a life in community with fellow members. Religious institutes are one of the two types of institutes of consecrate ...

Sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

in the region, the

Franciscan Missionaries of Christ the King The Franciscan Missionaries of Christ the King (F.M.C.K.) is a Roman Catholic religious congregation for women that originated in what is now Pakistan and founded schools, orphanages, homes for the aged and disabled and hospitals throughout the coun ...

Career

She then made a commitment to the dispossessed of the country, touring the slums of Karachi and reaching out with her heart and mind to anybody who needed her help. She also taught at Christ the King School in ''Khudadad Colony'' in the morning and went out to do social work in the slums of the city in the afternoons. She learned

Urdu language Urdu (;"Urdu"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ur, , link=no, ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, In ...

, the national language of Pakistan, to be able to communicate better with the local people. She was particularly concerned with the treatment of the mentally retarded, victims in the vicious pecking order of society. Due to the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

by then, communication with her homeland had become difficult, and she was able to return for a visit only in 1957. It was an experience which strengthened her commitment to the suffering of the people in Karachi.

Darul Sukun

In 1969

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Joseph Cordeiro Joseph Marie Anthony Cordeiro (19 January 1918 – 11 February 1994) was the first Pakistani cardinal. Early life Cordeiro was born to a Goan family. He was educated at St Patrick's High School, Karachi, the University of Bombay and Oxford U ...

, then the head of the

Archdiocese of Karachi The Archdiocese of Karachi is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in India. It was erected on 20 May 1948 under as a then-suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese ...

, bought a single-story property on ''Kashmir Road'' to start an English-medium school. Sister Gertrude begged and pleaded with him to convince him instead to let her utilize the property as a home for the mentally handicapped. He agreed, and Dar-ul-Sukun was created. Sister Gertrude accepted anyone and everyone, so that, far from being simply a home for the mentally handicapped, Dar-ul-Sukun became a beacon of hope for all in need. Orphans, the old and destitute, the physically handicapped, disfigured babies all came to the home or were left on its doorstep. Realizing that one center could not possibly cope with such diverse demands, Dar-ul-Sukun spawned a network of homes including a home for orphan boys called ''Dugout'', one for the old and destitute called ''Peace Haven'', and Janiville for children from broken homes. A chapter of Dar-ul-Sukun as the home for the physically handicapped operates in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

also. In 1970, Sister Gertrude again traveled back to Holland and made TV appearances and newspaper appeals for aid for her struggling home. With help from

philanthropists Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

and from Dutch companies like

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...

, they managed to scrape by. The home continues to be supported by the Dutch people with approximately half a million euro being collected to finance the project between 2004 and 2008. After Gertrude's death in 2000, Sister

Ruth Lewis Ruth Lewis (1946 – 20 July 2020) was a Roman Catholic nun of the religious congregation for women, the Franciscan Missionaries of Christ the King, living and working in Karachi, Pakistan. Vocation On 17 February 1969, she became along with ...

has been in charge of the institution.

Awards and recognition

Over time, Sister Gertrude came to be described as the "

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was bo ...

of Pakistan" or the ''Angel of Karachi''. In recognition of her work for the homeless, the needy, and the handicapped, she received the Sitara-i-Quaid-i-Azam (Star of the Great Leader) Award on 23 March 1989, from the President of Pakistan, one of the highest honors given to foreign nationals. President

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Ghulam Ishaq Khan ( ur, غلام اسحاق خان; 20 January 1915 – 27 October 2006), was a Pakistani bureaucrat who served as the seventh president of Pakistan, elected in 1988 following Zia's death until his resignation in 1993. He wa ...

and Prime Minister

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...

attended the ceremony.German, Dutch Sisters get Pakistan National Day Awards
ucanews.com website, Published 4 April 1989, Retrieved 23 January 2018

Death

Sister Gertrude died on 27 October 2000 at age 86, and was buried on 1 November, which was the sixty-fourth anniversary of her first arrival in British India. According to an obituary, her colleagues described her as loveable, warm and full of humour. "Her face beamed from her pictures on the mantle in the lounge of Dar-ul-Sukun".

References

External links

Dar-ul-Sukun (Home of Peace) official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lemmens, Gertrude 1914 births 2000 deaths Female Christian missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in Pakistan Dutch emigrants to Pakistan People from Karachi 20th-century Pakistani Roman Catholic nuns Dutch Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns