Bringing leprosy under control was the lifetime achievement of German doctor and nun, Ruth Pfau, known as Pakistan’s Mother Teresa. She has died aged 87, leaving behind 150 clinics treating the disease which she set up over her 50 years in the country, and was given a state funeral.
Born 9 September 1929 in Leipzig, Germany, she suffered her home being destroyed during WW11, escaped to the west when Stalin moved in and studied as a doctor. She felt a religious calling and converted to Catholicism in the 1950s when tr Pluto was conjunct her Neptune; and was sent to India where chance stuck her in Karachi and she stayed.
Like Mother Teresa she had a Virgo Sun, an earthy Taurus North Node and oddly enough for two women who lived in poverty Venus in flamboyant Leo. Ruth Pfau also had an unafraid-of-danger Mars Mercury in Libra opposition Uranus square Pluto. She’d be immensely resourceful in crises as well as drawn to high-risk situations. Her Sun was square an optimistic Jupiter on one side and Saturn in scholarly Sagittarius on the other. Quite a force to be reckoned with given her determined Pluto and emphasised Sun.
She had the healer’s 12th Harmonic well aspected; as well as a leaving-a-legacy for-history 17th harmonic.
Dear Marjorie Orr,
Thank you very much for writing about Dr. Ruth Pfau. I did not know of her work and legacy. I am saddened by our collective loss from her passing. Reading about her life has lifted my spirit. We need to read more about the real heroes like her; the heroes that bring all of us closer, not apart. I also want to let you know that your work brings light to all of us during these difficult times.
Blessings to you and your loved ones!!!
Dr Pfau said that, though she greatly appreciated and admired Mother Teresa, in reality the similarities between them were few.
She said her focus was on removing the root of the problem – not just dealing with its symptoms – the same ethos that has served her so well over the years in Pakistan when dealing with poor, displaced and marginalised people.
“The most important thing is that we give them their dignity back,” she insisted. (BBC’s post saving flood victims 2010)
(vs Mother Teresa’s suffering brings you closer to God)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-11666299