Mother Teresa Biography and Works.

The image of a short woman in a white sari with blue border with kindness in her eyes and the will to help in her heart, reminds of Mother Teresa (August 26, 1910-September 5, 1997).

Born in Skopje, the Republic of Macedonia, to well-to-do parents, Mother Teresa always knew in her heart that she was born to serve the poor. At the age of 18, she was given permission to join a group of nuns in Ireland. After a few months of training in Dublin, she travelled to Kolkata, accepted the vows of a nun, and took the name, Teresa.

Touched by the poverty around her in Calcutta (Kolkata), while teaching at St. Mary’s High School for Girls, she left the school and started working in the slums of Calcutta and opened an open-air school for children. Soon, many volunteers joined her and many funded the good cause. She soon started ‘The Missionaries of Charity’.

Today, the institution has many well trained doctors, nurses and social workers working to help the poor and the victims of natural catastrophes like floods, famine, epidemics, etc. It has also got many branches worldwide. In a time, when leprosy stricken people were a common sight around Calcutta, and people wouldn’t even look at the lepers, Mother Teresa hugged them, changed their bandages, and took care of them.

She also started a lepers’ colony called ‘Shanti’. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her sacrificial work towards those in need.

Trivia

Mother Teresa’s real name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. Agnes Bojaxhiu was her family name and Gonxha, her middle name. Gonxha means ‘flower bud’ in Albania and people often called her by this name.

Quote

“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.”