Pakistani Mother Teresa' Dr Ruth Pfau passed away

Dr Ruth Pfau, a symbol of selflessness and devotion who passed away at the age of 87 on 10th August in Karachi.

Pfau was a German-Pakistani doctor who dedicated her life to helping leprosy patients in Pakistan and is one of the founders of Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre (MALC). The 'Pakistani Mother Teresa' Dr Pfau will be laid to rest at Gora Qabaristan, Karachi's oldest graveyard.

This is the second state funeral to take place in Pakistan in 29 years, with the last one accorded to late philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi last year.

Dr Pfau, who was German by birth, had been sent to Pakistan in 1960 by the Daughters of the Heart of Mary, a congregation of nuns that she was a member of, for a medical service for students. After witnessing the plight of leprosy patients, she decided to settle here. She was granted citizenship in 1988.

In 1979, she was awarded the Hilal-i-Imtiaz, the second highest civilian award of the country. In 1989, Dr Ruth was presented the Hilal-i-Pakistan for her services.

Pfau was born in Leipzig, Germany, on 9 September 1929 from Protestant parents. She had four sisters and one brother. Her home was destroyed by bombing during World War II. Following the post-war Soviet occupation of East Germany she escaped to West Germany along with her family, and chose medicine as her future career.  During the 1950s, she studied medicine at the University of Mainz. During this time, Pfau met several times with a Dutch Christian woman, who was a concentration camp survivor and currently dedicated her life to "preaching love and forgiveness".

After "her life-changing experience", Pfau left "a romantic association" with a fellow student, got involved in discussions in the Mainz's philosophy and classical literature department, and she was baptized as an Evangelicals—before her conversion to Catholicism. After completing her clinical examination, Dr Pfau moved to Marburg. There she carried on with her clinical studies, joined a Catholic parish, and she was greatly influenced by Romano Guardini's The Lord in this period.

In 1957, she joined the Daughters of the Heart of Mary, a Catholic order, in Paris. She said, "When you receive such a calling, you cannot turn it down, for it is not you who has made the choice. ... God has chosen you for himself."  The order later sent her to southern India; however, in 1960, a visa issue meant she became stuck in Karachi. She travelled to various parts of Pakistan and across the border to Afghanistan to rescue patients who were abandoned by their families or locked in small rooms for a lifetime.