Mary Teresa was born in Yugoslavia in 1910. When she was born she was named Agnes Gonxtia. Then she received the name sister Mary Teresa. She went to Calcutta, India as a missionary in 1929. Calcutta was a large city. There was million of people. Her name Mary Teresa was know as Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Mother Teresa became famous for doing what most of us find difficult to do. Although she was a teacher by profession, she strongly felt the need to live with the poor and served them. She left her home in Albania and chose to live among with the poor of Calcutta in India. She sympathized and empathized with the poor the homeless and the sick. She therefore decided in 1946 at the age of 36 years to serve the poor all her life. She had neither money nor a home nor food to give them. All she had was the determination to serve the poor and the helpless.
She started by assembling abandoned children in parks and teaching them. With a few donation from well wishers. Mother Teresa opened homes for poor people in the street gutters. There she and her helpers fed, clothed, nursed and counselled the sick. They even taught the poor and the sick how to write and read.
Since that time, Mother Teresa's movement has started over soo similar homes in more than 100 countries all over the world. In Kenya there are a number of such homes.
Mother Teresa started homes for people who were very sick and about to die. She started homes for lepers cancer patient and people living with AIDS. It was her belief that no one not even the dying should be neglected. Speaking about her work, Mother Teresa once said "We cannot allow our human beings to end their days in creeks like animals".
People from all over the world were moved by what Mother Teresa did for poor people and they have donations which she used to start other homes. Mother Teresa remineded all people that it was their responsibility to help the poor. She sais when a poor person dies for hugner, it is neither you nor me didin't give them food.
Mother Teresa received many awards in recognition of her charity work. In 1979, she won one of the greates prizes in the world, the noble peace prize. She used the money to build more for the poor. Mother Teresa lived in the homes. Her co-workers were not employees but volunteers who also believed in the noble work work of helping the poor.
Mother Teresa urged people to recognize another form of poverty, the poverty of being neglected. In one of her speeches she said, The greates poverty is to feel alone, unwanted and unloved. She said that helping others can take many forms like smilling to a lonely person reading to someone who cannot read or blind. She also attended international meeting where encouraged world leaders to help the poor instead of only talking about them.
People from all over the world respected Mother Teresa for her charity. SHe helped poor people in all her life until she had died in 1994 in India, the country she has chose to be her home, gave her a state funeral, the kind of funeral given to great leaders. Among those who attended Mother Teresa's funeral were world leaders and thousand of poor she had so faithfully served.
I believe a good name is better than riches and service to humanity is service to God.
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