MOTHER TERESA

By blood, I am Albanian,By citizenship, an Indian, By faith, I am a catholic nun, As to my calling, I belong to the world,As to my heart, I belong entirely to the heart of Jesus”

Mother Teresa was born at Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia, on August 26, 1910. Her family was of Albanian descent. At the age of twelve, she strongly felt the call of God and decided to become a missionary to spread the love of Christ. At the age of eighteen she left her parental home in Skopje and joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns with missions in India. After a few months of training in Dublin she was sent to India, where on May 24, 1931, she took her initial vows as a nun.

Mother Teresa moved to India penniless with a vision to spread the love of God. While she was there, she saw many people who were stricken by poverty. She was able to see striking similarity between herself and the people in India who bore the same brunt of poverty. She had empathy on the people who had neither money nor shelter to live with. Realising the sufferings of the people she started the Missionary of Charity in 1950. This place was considered a haven to anyone who needed help in any certain way. There are many reasons why I chose to write about her and I will be explaining the reasons below.

1. Missionaries of Charity 2. Home for the dying 3. Leprosy Disease 4. Orphanage 5. HIV/Aids

Her first give back to the community of India was Missionaries of Charity. It was established with a great motive as she saw many people in need and decided to give back and therefore created what would now still be a very popular missionary.

Mother Teresa’s words for those who would need the help from the Missionaries of Charity were “the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone.” The fact that she worked along with the rest of the nuns when it came to helping these people was something very special because a lot of time people come up with organizations but only support them by money not by actually being there and working. Even though women were still looked down, as a nun she was able to pull this in during those times was really amazing. One thing that captured my thought was the fact that people from any kind of religion were welcomed into this home for the dying. I think that was very kind because as per Indian tradition there were times when most of the places were tagged only for separate religious people yet this place welcomed people of different religion which was a great gesture.

She was so loved by all and she did many good deeds for the people and so, recognizing her genuine work she was adorned with many awards. Below listed are a few prizes she received for her innate service to the society.

Mother Teresa throughout the years of her life received many prizes:

• Ramon Magsaysay • Award Pope John • XXIII Peace Prize • Pacem in Terris Award Balzan Prize • Noble Peace Prize

She showed men that women have the ability to build things right from the scratch just as men. Though, the fact Mother Teresa might not have been in any Feminist group to fight for women rights, she was defiantly a woman who was not only trying to just help women but the human community at large. Thus, proving that women and men are the same in their own distinct ways.

Mother Teresa unfortunately died September 5, 1997. She was an idol who everyone loved and because of her initiative’s charity spread all across the world in greater sense.