NE Brief
The Nun who stood firm
Current Updates | NE Brief | NECARF Rep | 15-Aug-2023
Sr. Fatima the Brave Heart
The unprecedented mayhem that shocked the state of Manipur and stirred the conscience of the country and the world would stand as one of the darkest chapters of human history, except for the people behind the dirty game, who would probably chest thump as a success to their sinister plan. For any human person with some space for compassion and love, the gruesome incidents are something best not recalled, for they bring chills to the body. However, even in the midst of them all, there are stories of kindness, compassion and courage that many unsung heroes had exhibited.
One such anecdote involves a Catholic nun, Sr. Fatima Khayawon Sasa, who shown courage, dedication, and commitment to her vocation in Kakching Khunou, a Meitei community with a Catholic school and parish. Her parish priest, who is a member of the targeted community, was forced to depart on May 3, 2023. With the Parish gone, it was up to her to protect the center. With the tensions rising around them, three of her sister nuns were psychologically disturbed and wanted to depart as well. Sr. Fatima, on the other hand, had a different plan. She believed it was critical that they stay because if they left, the Church, School, and other physical assets would be razed to the ground.
While speaking to NECARF Review, she said she tried convincing her fellow nuns to pull up their courage and stay on. However, she faced a stiff resistance from them who were already shaken up by what was happening around them. Being the senior nun in that mission, she was pressurized to allow them to leave. Even the Provincial of the congregation verbally directed that all four of them leave since there was threat to their lives. Sr. Fatima politely told her that while the others nuns are free to leave the mission, she would not like to run away from evil. She stayed on even as her fellow nuns left.
As expected, Arambai Tengol activists arrived and were planning to burn down the church. She asked that they first kill her and then burn down the church. When the crowd saw her unwavering stance, they seized some artifacts from inside the Church and burned them, but they did not set fire to the School or the Church, only destroying a part of the Church wall. Sr. Fatima stated that the Meitei ladies came and stayed with her from the first night of terror onwards because she was alone. Following that, more non-Christian Meitei ladies joined them, and they continued to protect the campus until another priest joined the center, and her coworkers who had previously abandoned also returned.
Leave a comment
