Sister Rita Perera by Dr. Wilfred Perera and Others
Mother Theresa of Sri Lanka SISTER RITA PERERA There were seven in our family, five boys and two girls. I am writing this as the eldest Dr. brother. Rita was the fourth in the family, born on April 11, 1934. My mother and father were both teachers, strict disciplinarians. Rita had her education at the Sacred Heart Convent, Galle, by the then Belgian Sisters of Charity. She was the bridesmaid at my wedding in 1952. She entered the nunnery at the age of 19 in 1953 and had her training at SHC Galle. She was a science teacher in the school. She fell ill in 1955 with a peptic ulcer of the stomach and was treated by Dr. P.R. Anthonis, the well known surgeon who admitted her to the nuns’ ward at General Hospital, Colombo. At that time the treatment of peptic ulcer was by surgery and she had a gastro-entorostomy done. She developed complications and started vomiting blood for which blood transfusion was given and she had a second surgery to stop the bleeding. Ultimately within one y...