Mother Teresa

       Mother Teresa is remembered by the world for her selfless service to the poor and the sick. She was born in Yugoslavia on August 26, 1910. Her original name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. At the age of twelve, she realised that what she wanted to do most of all was to help the poor. She decided to train for missionary work and came to India at the age of nineteen to join the Sisters of Loretto, an Irish community of nuns with a mission in Kolkata. In 1928 she took her initial vows as a nun. From 1929 to 1948 Mother Teresa taught at St. Mary’s High School in Kolkata, but the suffering and poverty she glimpsed outside the convent walls disturbed her. She left the convent school and devoted herself to working among the poor in the slums of Kolkata. She had no money so she started an open-air school for homeless children. Actually for Mother, life was a mission to serve the suffering humanity. In 1948, Sister Teresa became Mother Teresa. In the same year, she became an Indian citizen. She established the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta (Kolkata). In 1957, the Missionaries began to work with lepers and in the field of education. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She persuaded the people that leprosy is not contagious. She founded Nirmol Hridoy, Sishu Bhava, Mahatma Gandhi Leprosy Ashram and many other organizations. Now the Missionaries of Charity are working in 125 countries with more than 750 centers. Mother Teresa was awarded the Padma Shri and Bharat Ratna. This humanitarian   died in 1997