Service to humanity is the dictum that nuns live by. Sister Asha, a 21-year-old nun, continued to serve humanity even in her death. Her organs were donated after she was declared brain dead following a fall from the second floor of the missionary home where she was undergoing training.

Sister Asha, hailing from Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, was all set to complete her training in May this year. “She was a soft-spoken, intelligent girl,” said Maria Philo, Assistant Mother General of the Bon Secours congregation, where Asha was studying.

It was on Thursday, March 5, 2009, that Asha slipped and fell, while cleaning the ceiling, standing on top of a parapet wall of the second floor of the building. She was admitted to the intensive care unit of the neurology ward at Sri Ramachandra Hospital in Chennai.

Her parents, Antony Xavier and Antoniamma, were informed of the accident. Mr. Xavier is a fisherman and his wife, a domestic help. The couple has two other daughters and a son. Asha was their first born. She chose to become a nun after class XII.  “I am not educated. What is given as donation should not be spoken about. We are happy that she will live through others,” Mr. Xavier said.