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Mother Teresa was a wonderful woman and a great influence on the world today. She was born
in 1910 in Macedonia with the name Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. She was born into a family of
deeply religious Catholics. Agnes felt she got the calling to work for God at the young
age of fourteen. She joined the Loreto order and went to Bengal, India, to start her
studies. In 1937, Agnes took her final vows to become a nun and has done much great work
in the world since. Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born on August 27, 1910 to Nikola and Drana
Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia. Drana and Nikola were Albanian and both were very deeply
religious Roman Catholics. Nikola was a popular merchant and a partner to an Italian
merchant. He owned several houses and was a member of the Skopje town council. Whenever
Agnes' father would return from a trip, he would always bring his children presents.
Also, he promoted his daughters' education, which was uncommon in that time period.
Nikola also was involved in an underground organization that worked to gain independence
for the Albanians from the Ottoman Turks, who ruled Macedonia around the time Agnes was
born. Agnes grew up around much fighting. When she was born, there were Albanian protests
against the Turkish government. When she was two, she witnessed the First Balkan War. In
that war, the Ottomans were defeated, but Macedonia was divided among the conquerors:
Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegero, and Serbia. The city of Skopje was distributed to Serbia.
Albania received its independence in 1912, but Nikola continued his nationalist work. He
joined a movement determined to incorporate Serbia into the Albanian nation. In 1914,
when Agnes was only four years old, World War I began. In 1918, her father was killed.
Some people believe that he was poisoned by enemies. Many people mourned his death
because of his kindness and generosity. Drana Bojaxhiu and the family were left with
little money and no means of income. Drana worked hard to provide for her family. To get
enough money, she became a dressmaker. Even though she had to work extra hard to make
ends meet, Drana still found time and money to give to the lonely. When Agnes was young,
she used to go on trips with her mother to visit the elderly, sick, and the poor. It is
said that their mother's generosity may have had the greatest influence on Agnes, her
sister, and her brother. Agnes was the youngest of the three children. Her older brother
was named Lazar and her older sister was Aga. Aga was five years older than Agnes. Agnes
loved reading books, saying prayers, and thinking. She also liked to sing and write poems
about her faith. Agnes learned her faith from her mother. There was a sign in the front
room of their house that read: In this house, no one must speak against another. Drana
passed down to her children many values. She believed that the Lord's work was reward
enough in itself and that you should serve God in a practical, helpful way. Agnes had
thought about being a teacher when she was younger, but at the age of twelve, she knew
she wanted to lead a religious life. When Agnes was only fourteen, she knew she wanted to
be a missionary nun. At age eighteen, Agnes joined the Loreto order of nuns. In September
of 1928, she left her family and everything she knew to serve God at the Loreto Abbey in
Dublin Ireland. There, she learned how to speak English. In November, she went to India
to teach English in an Indian school. In 1929, Agnes started her novitiate in an Abbey in
Darjeeling, and abbey in the foothills of the Himalayas. A novitiate is the time a nun
spends studying, praying, and contemplating before she takes her vows. On May 24, 1931,
Agnes took her first vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. She took her name after
St. Therese, the patron saint of missionaries. On May 14, 1937, Teresa took her final
vows, promising to serve God for the rest of her life. Teresa eventually became the
principal of Loreto Entally, a school in Entally (a district of Calcutta) where she
taught history and geography. Everyday, Teresa would look out of the convent to the
streets of Calcutta. She longed to help the starving and dying people on the streets. She
wasn't allowed to because the Loreto order of nuns had a rule that the nuns couldn't
leave the convent unless they were seriously ill. In August, 1946, Sister Teresa could
stand it no longer. A four-day riot broke out in Calcutta between the Muslims and the
Hindus. Because of this, food delivery was stopped. Sister Teresa went out to find food
for her hundreds of students. In the riot, 5000 Calcuttans were killed and an additional
15000 were injured. She met some soldiers who gave her some bags of food. They warned her
to stay off the streets, but she would soon experience another call from God. On
September 10, 1946, Sister Teresa experienced a call within a call on an annual retreat.
She was convinced that God wanted her to reach out to the poor. She said, I was to leave
the convent and help the poor while living among them. It was an order. To fail it would
have been to break the faith. In 1947, Sister Teresa was granted permission to leave the
Loreto order of nuns. On August 16, 1948, Sister Teresa set out on the dirty streets of
Calcutta wearing a simple cotton sari decorated with a blue border. Eventually, her
organization would adopt this outfit as their habit. Leaving the Loreto Abbey was very
hard for Sister Teresa. She says that that was one of the greatest sacrifices she had
ever made. The sisters at the Abbey were her only friends and companions and she was
leaving them all behind. Before she went out to the slums of Calcutta, she went to Patna,
a city 250 miles from Calcutta, to learn medical skills from Mother Anna Dengel. In
Patna, the Medical Missionary Sisters took Sister Teresa in immediately and took her with
them when they went to the houses of sick and dying people and local hospitals. Sister
Teresa learned to care for people by practicing with the sisters. In Patna, Sister Teresa
learned how to deliver babies, fix broken bones, and she became aware of many common
diseases and illnesses. The sisters found that she was a natural at caring for people,
and within three months, Sister Teresa set out to help the poor of Calcutta. In Calcutta,
she got in touch will Father Van Exem, who would help her find a place to stay. Father
arranged for Sister Teresa to stay at St. Joseph's Home, where a group of nuns called the
Little Sisters of the Poor welcomed her gladly. It was hard for Sister Teresa to know
where to start helping in such a large city as Calcutta. She began by helping the Little
Sisters of the Poor work with elderly people. On December 21, 1948, Sister Teresa finally
set out on the streets of Calcutta to start her mission from God. She walked out into the
city with a packed lunch, but nothing else. She had no money, materials, or companions.
The first place Sister Teresa decided to go was the slum that she could see from outside
her window while teaching in the Loreto convent called Motijhil. She decided to start a
school there. On the first day, five children showed up for class. There were no desks,
books, or chalkboards, but Sister Teresa still managed to teach. She started by teaching
the alphabet. Soon, the number of students was almost forty. With Sister Teresa's help,
the students learned not only about language and numbers, but also they learned about
personal hygiene and cleanliness. Through her students, Sister Teresa met many families
of Calcutta and also learned about the poor amount of medical care. Many of these
families had no income because the man of the house had been stricken with disease. In
Calcutta, thousands of people died each year because they weren't able to get medical
care. The amount of poverty in Calcutta grew, and Sister Teresa knew she had to do
something more. Since she did not have any money, Sister Teresa gave herself and all of
her attention and energy to the poor. She walked around the streets each day looking for
places she could help. The work would exhaust her, but each day she kept on going. Sister
Teresa had such a love and a compassion for God, people, and her work that she would help
even the people who nobody else would go near. She was tempted each night to go back to
the easy life at Loreto, but she prayed to God for help to get through it all. In March
1949, Sister Teresa received a visitor at St. Joseph's. It was one of her students from
Entally. She had come because she could not forget her kind and generous teacher and
principle, and wanted to join Sister Teresa and work for the poor of Calcutta. Soon
after, Magdalena Gomes came to Sister Teresa to help too. The three of them would go out
onto the streets of Calcutta each day, not knowing what to expect. By the end of that
year, eight other young girls had joined Sister Teresa to help fight against poverty.
Also in 1949, Sister Teresa decided to become an Indian citizen, demonstrating her
dedication to Calcutta's poor. On October 7, 1950, Cardinal Pietro Fumosoni-Biondi, head
of the office for the Propagation of the Faith, sanctioned Sister Teresa's order, making
her Mother Teresa. The new order was called the Missionaries of Charity. It grew steadily
in number, while helping the poorest of the poor. Mother Teresa encouraged all of the
nuns to treat all of the poor like a gift from God. She made sure that they always
treated the patients with respect, warmth, and kindness. By the middle of 1953, the
Missionaries of Charities moved to a new residence that was big enough to house the
growing number of nuns joining. Mother Teresa refused to have the name Reverend Mother
Teresa because she would never set herself above anyone else. In 1954, Mother Teresa was
given an unused building where she could help the dying of Calcutta. The old building was
transformed into the Place of the Immaculate Heart. The building could hold 120 people at
one time. This building was made a place where the terminally ill could go to die in
dignity, instead of out on the streets. Each morning, Mother Teresa and the nuns would
search the streets for dying people. The people were treated as angels and were loved and
cared for until their death and ever after. When a woman with children died, as happened
often, the sisters would take care of the children. Often on their morning walks, the
nuns would find abandoned babies. They also took them in and cared for them. In 1955,
Mother Teresa opened up the Children's Home of the Immaculate Heart. It was a two-story
building that gave shelter to children with no place to go. The sisters helped care for
malnourished and dying babies as well as relatively healthy ones. In addition to housing
many dying children, the Missionaries of Charity set up a food bank for the hungry of
Calcutta. The Children's Home of the Immaculate Heart also became a place where teen-age
girls to go who had lost their families' support and may have turned to prostitution. The
girls often helped out by taking care of the children. The young teens were taught useful
skills such as sewing and typing so they would be able to support themselves. Mother
Teresa received much criticism for wasting money on the dead and the dying, but she still
kept on with her work. Mother Teresa not only had a compassion for he poor and dying, but
also for the victims of leprosy. In 1957, about 30,000 lepers lived in Calcutta. Most of
them were cast out from society and even their families. They were unable to find an
employer who would hire them. Mother Teresa found yet another group of people that needed
compassion, the lepers, and she was willing to give it. She was determined to find
medical care for them. The Missionaries of Charity set up many clinics where people could
go to get medicine, disinfectant, bandages, and other necessary supplies. The sisters
opened up a rehabilitation clinic for the lepers. One of Mother Teresa's biggest
achievements for the lepers was helping establish the 35 acre Town of Peace, a
rehabilitating community for them. In the early 1960s, the Missionaries of Charity
started forming groups that would travel to different parts of India. Homes were set up
in Delhi, Jhansi, Agra, Patna, and other places. By 1962, there were 119 members of the
Missionaries of Charity. Over 30 centers outside of Calcutta had been opened with the
help of many contributions. Mother Teresa traveled to the United States in 1960 and spoke
in Las Vegas, Nevada. There, she received hundreds of donations for her work. Mother
Teresa also traveled to Illinois, Washington DC, and New York collecting donations and
meeting many people along the way. After Mother Teresa left the United States, she
journeyed to England, Germany, and Rome. This trip gave many new ideas to Mother Teresa.
Mother Teresa thought it would be a great idea to get some men involved to do the same
type of work as the sisters were doing. So, on March 25, 1963, twelve men went to live at
the Home of the Immaculate Heart to start studying to prepare themselves for the
missionary work. These men were headed by Brother Andrew, who later took the name of
General Servant, and called the Missionary Brothers of Charity. Mother Teresa was able to
buy them a small home where their headquarters would be located. The brothers went into
the areas of Calcutta that were hard for the sisters to access and ran the men's ward at
the Home for the Dying. In no time at all, the brothers' numbers grew. Soon, there were
44 houses around the world. In February of 1965, the Missionaries of Charity had been
granted permission to work outside of India by the Pope because of the Second Vatican
Council. This meant that Mother Teresa, with her 300 sisters, could help all the poor of
the world. Their first home outside of India would be in Venezuela. In Cocorote, Mother
Teresa began her work. She was determined to help the women and children. There was a
shortage of food, clothing, and medical care. Men usually took more than one wife,
regardless if they could support their families or not. It was Mother Teresa's goal to
educate the women so that they could support themselves and their children. Mother Teresa
and the other sisters in Cocorote fixed up an old ruined hotel that they planned to use
as their headquarters. It had been previously used as a dump and was very hard to
renovate. The Missionaries soon had the hotel up and running and they taught the women
how to type and sew. They also taught elementary school to the children and anyone who
wanted to learn. In the 1960s and 1970s, over ten new houses were opened for the
Missionaries of Charity in South America. In 1968, Mother Teresa was given a special
request from the Pope. Pope Paul VI requested that Mother Teresa open a house in Rome.
With virtually no hesitation, Mother Teresa brought the sisters to the poor outskirts of
Rome. The people there had no electricity, heat, or running water. Mother Teresa was
willing to establish a home in Rome for these poor people. She also received an
invitation to go to Tanzania in September of 1968. The buildings there were renovated for
our people, the term Mother Teresa used instead of calling the people poor. Old people's
homes were established there, as well as nurseries and medical supply rooms. Abandoned
children received care and the blind and sick were fed and bathed. In 1969, Mother
Teresa, with help from Ann Blaikie, formed the International Association of the
Co-Workers of Mother Teresa for lay people who wanted to help out in her organization.
The members of this organization had no requirements. They didn't have to be Catholic or
even religious to join. It was just people who wanted to help other people. The
Co-Workers also agree to live as simply as they can, just like the Missionaries of
Charity do. When sick people wanted to become part of her work, Mother Teresa started a
group called the Sick and Suffering Co-Workers. By 1985, there were over 2,600 members of
the Sick and Suffering Co-Workers. For all of her tremendous efforts, Mother Teresa
received the first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize from Pope Paul VI. In 1971 he praised her
for her hard work with the poor and for her efforts to make peace. Along with a small
statue of Jesus Christ, the Pope awarded her about $67,000 to use in her works. In 1971,
Mother Teresa took her work to the United States. First, she went to the Bronx in New
York. There, she helped the children, the lonely, the sick, and the unwanted. Groups of
sisters went into some developments to visit shut-ins, clean houses, get the groceries,
and listen to the elderly people. To try to keep the children off the streets, the
sisters organized a camp program with art, crafts, sports, and other activities that were
free. The programs were held everyday on the school grounds of a school in the Bronx. The
Missionaries' work in the Bronx was only a beginning to a long line of work done in the
United States. In October of 1971, Mother Teresa was given the Joseph P. Kennedy
Foundation Award by the Kennedy family. She was presented with a check for $12,000. She
put the money straight into a fund for the disabled and retarded children. Mother Teresa
was commended for her ability to recognize the needs of so many people and to be able to
provide help with so little supplies and luxuries. Although Mother Teresa was getting old
and fragile, she would not stop helping people. There was still much that needed to be
done. In 1971, Mother Teresa turned 61, but she wasn't about to even think about
retiring. In 1972, Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity ventured to Bangladesh.
There was terrible devastation in Bangladesh. Food was scarce in the villages and many
people were starving. Many women had been raped and were treated as outcasts and
abandoned by their families. These women had no place to go, that is, until Mother Teresa
arrived. The Missionaries of Charity would hide the women from men who wanted to rape
them. They also set up adoptions for the unwanted babies and buried the dead and tended
to the wounds of the living. Four centers were established in Bangladesh. Because of all
the work around the world, Mother Teresa was getting publicity. She didn't like it, but
if she was able to tell the world about her mission, she would do it. In 1973, Mother
Teresa was given the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. In the years to follow,
Mother Teresa built many more houses for the poor and needy. She also traveled around the
world and spoke to many people. Mother Teresa has never turned down an invitation to work
with the poor in any country. In the coarse of her mission, Mother Teresa received many
awards. Perhaps one of the most prestigious of these was the Nobel Peace Prize. On
December 9, 1979, Mother Teresa was presented with the Nobel Peace Prize in a glorious
atmosphere of beautiful flowers and cheering people. Along with the award, she was
presented with $190,000. She received the prize for her outstanding work with the poor
and her overall love for people. In her acceptance speech, she stressed the need for
people to love each other. Three months after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Mother
Teresa was presented with India's greatest award, the Bharat Ratna, or the Jewel of
India. Mother Teresa's work in the United States grew and by 1984, she had established 19
houses to help the poor and homeless in America. In 1985, President Ronald Reagan awarded
Mother Teresa with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In the following years Mother
Teresa worked as hard as she ever had, despite her age. She gave talks about pro-life and
worked with AIDS victims of the world. Mother Teresa would give of her whole self all the
way up until 1997. Mother Teresa died of cardiac arrest on the morning of September 5,
1997 at the age of 87. She was buried on Saturday the 13th of September, 1997. Many
people attended her funeral to bid her farewell and to pray for her. Mother Teresa was a
wonderful women. She gave everything she had to serve God and the people of the world.
She will be remembered forever for her contributions to the poor and the homeless. I feel
that Mother Teresa made a wondrous contribution to the world. What more can you give to
the world than yourself? The answer to that question is nothing. Mother Teresa gave the
most you can give to anyone or anything. She gave her love, compassion, and all of her
efforts to the world. She worked for the good of all mankind. Race and religion didn't
matter to her, she just wanted to help. I think it is amazing how much one woman can do.
I think Mother Teresa is the best example of the effects one woman can have on the world.
She started out by serving God in a convent and teaching children who had enough money to
be sent to school. She pleaded with the Pope to let her leave her order to start a new
one, and her pleas were answered. She was able to leave the order. From there, Mother
Teresa touched people's lives all around the world. She worked in the slums of Africa,
Asia, Australia, South America, and North America. This single woman started out an order
of nuns, an order of brothers, a group for lay people, houses and programs for poor and
starving children, women, and men. Perhaps one of the biggest things she did was inspire
so many other people to do what she was doing, to help and love other people. I believe
that Mother Teresa was given a very special gift by God. She was given the gift of love.
She was able to show love for all types of people, no matter the race or religion. She
was only interested in helping people. Mother Teresa helped the people that nobody else
would even touch. She loved the outcasts and the people who had terrible diseases. Mother
Teresa loved people so much that she gave up all of her luxuries and comforts and the
world that she knew to go help the poorest of the poor. She believed that to be able to
truly understand the needs of the poor, you had to live with the poor. Mother Teresa
inspired so many people. Because of her efforts, many of the people who had gotten no
attention before, had not even been given any help, received help. All over the world,
people have been positively affected by Mother Teresa's devotion to the poor. I would
never be able to give of myself like she did. I don't think many people could ever say
that they could do what she did. It takes a special person to be able to do that type of
work, and Mother Teresa responded to God's calling to serve the people, and has served so
many people. Mother Teresa's love and generosity still lives on today and will always
live on. Even though Mother Teresa is in heaven now, her work still lives on here on
Earth. All of the many foundations she started are still being run by the Missionaries of
Charity, the Missionary Brothers of Charity, the Co-Workers of the Missionaries of
Charity, and all of the people she has inspired. Mother Teresa has inspired people to
donate their time and money to the poor people. Even if they don't give themselves
totally as Mother Teresa did, they still want to help needy people. I feel that Mother
Teresa will live on in the hearts of the people she helped as well as many other people.
Mother Teresa had a tremendous effect on our world and I think she deserves much honor
and praise for her work. Mother Teresa is a wonderful role-model for anyone. She has
literally helped people all over the world. In a world so hateful and dishonest, a person
like Mother Teresa is a rare occurrence. Overall, Mother Teresa was a wonderful person
who helped the world a great deal 
Bibliography 
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Janet N. My Life for the Poor: Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The Great American Bathroom
Book, vol 1. Stevens W. Anderson. Salt Lake City: Compact Classics Inc., 1991. Serrou,
Robert. Teresa of Calcutta. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981. Spink, Kathryn. The Miracle of
Love. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1981.