By Thomas Scaria
Mangalore, March 24, 2022: Two Missionaries of Charity nuns from India looking after the homeless in Kyiv, capital of the war-hit Ukraine, are facing food short as they are unable to get provisions, says a doctor associated with them.
Sisters Rosela Nuthangi and Ann Frida from the northeastern Indian state of Mizoram are serving 37 homeless Ukrainians and an Indian student with three nuns from other countries in a temporary shelter, says Doctor Jenson Johnson Fernandez, an Indian serving with MC sisters in Kyiv.
Sister Nuthangi, who is 65, hails from Sihphir village, about 15 km north of the Mizoram capital of Aizawl, while Sister Frida, 48, is a native of Electric Veng, a suburb of the city.
The doctor quoted the Teresa nuns as saying that the difficulties will not deter their commitment to serve the homeless. The sisters are determined to continue their work in Ukraine, he told Matters India March 24.
Fernandes also said the nuns are not afraid of the war and they are busy serving the people, some of them war victims. “They are not interested in speaking to media at this point of time,” he said after consulting the nuns’ Polish superior.
Doctor Fernandes has been serving the Mother Teresa home as a volunteer for the past few years after completing his master’s degree in cardiology in Ukraine. He is unmarried and serves as a full time volunteer with the MC nuns in Ukraine.
The sisters, he added, are fine and have food that they hoarded before the war started.
He said neither he nor sisters have plans to move away from Kyiv to safer places. “We are here to serve the people who are trapped here,” said the Mother Teresa volunteer. “We are not afraid and we are not hiding,” he asserted.
The Indian student, who is also from Kerala, took shelter with the nuns when Russia attacked the capital city. Fernandes said the student has brought much relief as the nuns can call their families using his mobile phone.
The nuns had earlier procured essential supplies secretly, but they now fear shortages as the war and bombings drag on. “They are now eating economically … they are not sure they can continue getting supplies brought in by fathers from other missions,” Fernandez said.
The doctor also said their parish priests and Christian volunteers still find food and supply to the nuns’ home . “So, we are surviving and serving,” he added.
Doctor Fernandez said the nuns also feed around 50 people from outside daily, besides looking after the sick and homeless in their home.
Earlier, the Indian nuns declined their superiors’ request to move to a safer place and chose to stay on in the war-torn country at great risks to their lives. They said they could not abandon their people.
The doctor said the nuns say serving the needy and the homeless in all seasons is one of their primary commitments.
Sister Nuthangi joined the Missionaries of Charity in 1981 and was sent to the former Soviet Union as a missionary ten year later. She worked in Moscow for 10 years.
The sixth of eight girls in a family, Sister Nuthangi mastered the Russian language that helped her work in several former Soviet counties, including Latvia and Estonia, before moving to Ukraine in 2013.
She visited her native village only in 2009 and 2015 after going to the Soviet Union. Her last visit to Mizoram was to attend the ordination of her cousin Father Alwyn Zothansanga, who died in 2020 of COVID-19.
Sister Frida joined the congregation in 1995 and worked in India for a few years. She was then sent to several countries including Lithuania, Siberia and Armenia. She came to Ukraine in 2019.