By Matters India Reporter

Berhampur: A Filipina nun, who served India for 41 years, has returned to her native country.

Sister Linda Gomez of Daughters of the Charity, a congregation founded by St. Vincent De Paul, worked among the poor mostly in Odisha, eastern India, has returned to the Philippines.

Sister Martha Pradhan, who heads the congregation’s North India province, in a ceremony in Berhampur on August 25, thanked Sister Gomez for her service to the Church and society in India.

Sister Gomez worked also among the poor in West Bengal and other parts of the country. She was among the first to volunteer to work among the victims of the Orissa Super Cyclone 1994, Sister Pradhan recalled.

The cyclone, which hit the eastern state with winds of up to 170mph, wiped out everything in its path.

Father Naresh Nayak, a Vincentian who attended the farewell, said Sister Gomez contributed so much to the Vincentians and the people of India in different capacities in the past 41 years.

“I was privileged to be nurtured by you. You will be ever remembered in my life. I assure my prayers as you return to your country to enjoy the best of life waiting with your service,” he added.

Albert Murmu, a former student of Sister Gomez, thanked her for being his great inspiration. “Where ever you go may Almighty God bless you always. Pray for me and my family,” he added.