Karachi: A road in Karachi was named after an award winning Catholic nun for her work in education.
Berchman’s Road near Clifton, Karachi was inaugurated on November 16 by Iftikhar Ali Shallwani, commissioner of Karachi, Fazal Karim Dadabhoy, honorary consul of Ivory Coast, in presence of teachers, nuns, students and parents.
Born in Ireland’s County Clare in 1930, Sr Berchmans joined the Convent of Jesus and Mary in 1951 in Willesden, London. Sister Berchmans came to Pakistan at the age of 24 and has spent 58 of her 60 years teaching in the Muslim nation.
In 2012, she was awarded the Sitara-i-Quaid-i-Azam – one of the highest civil awards given by the president of Pakistan. The award recognized her “constant adherence to the call of duty over a span of 59 years, which has made Sister Berchmans a living example to emulate”.
Sister Berchmans was awarded the Benedict Medal by St Mary’s University, London in recognition of a lifetime of “teaching and promoting interfaith relations” in Pakistan in 2019.
Sr Berchmans inspired thousands of students and taught Pakistan’s former Prime Minister, the late Benazir Bhutto, as well as Nobel laureate Nergis Mavalvala.
She taught Muslim, Christian, Parsi and Hindu children at the Convents of Jesus and Mary Schools in Lahore, Murree and Karachi. Sister Berchmans, 89, now stays in Convent of Jesus and Mary in Karachi.