other Teresa taught geography at St. Mary's School in Calcutta, India from 1929 to 1948.

When she was riding a train to Darjeeling though, she heard God call. Soon she wanted to help the sick, the poor, and the dying. She took her final vows and became a Roman Catholic nun in 1937. She started to work in the Missio naries of Charity. Her first day on the job, Mother Teresa picked up a dying w oman who was half-eaten by ants. Mother Teresa took the woman to Dhardnshala. She tried to clean the woman, but her skin came off and the woman died. In 1952 Mother Teresa started the Kalighat Home for the Dying. She and other nu ns searched for people who were sick or dying on the streets in Calcutta, India. They helped and cared for them at the home. Once Mother Teresa said, "I see God in every human being." She became known as "The Saint Of the Gutters." Also, i n the later 1950's, she began a leper colony called the "Town of Peace." Later, every one of her centers were placed under an organization called the Mis sionaries of Charity. The centers helped to treat blind people, lepers, the dyi ng, the disabled, and the old. Mother Teresa also started orphanages and school s for the poor. By 1990, there were centers in 25 countries. Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1972, the Magsaysay Award in 1962, the Leo Tolsto y International Award, the First Pope John XXIII Peace Prize in 1971, the Padma Shri in 1963, and the Bharat Ratna in 1980. All of the money Mother Teresa got from her awards, she gave to the centers she set up. Even though Mother Teresa is not with us on earth here today, she is still with us, in our hearts. (The photographs of Mother Teresa are copyrighted and used with the permission o f Cyberindian.com. See Citations page for details.) |Muhammad Ali | Anne Frank | Joan of Arc | Abraham Lincoln | Charles Lindbergh | Martin Luther King Jr. | Mother Teresa |Mother Teresa was born on August 27,191 0 in Skopje,Macedonia. Mother Teresa's original name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. The youngest of the children born to Nikola and Drane Bojaxhiu. Her father was a successful merchant and she was youngest of the three siblings. She received he r First Communion at the age of five and a half and was confirmed in November 19 16. From the day of her First Holy Communion, a love for souls was within her. H er father s sudden death when Gonxha was about eight years old left in the family in financial straits. Drane raised her children firmly and lovingly, greatly inf luencing her daughter s character and vocation. Gonxha s religious formation was fur ther assisted by the vibrant Jesuit parish of the Sacred Heart in which she was much involved. At the age of 12, she decided that she wanted to be a missionary and spread the love of Christ. At the age of 18 she left her parental home in Sk opje and joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns with missions in India. There she received the name Sister Mary Teresa after St. Thrse of Lisieu x. Mother Teresa taught at St. Mary s High School from 1931 to 1948. The condition of poor people outside the convent made such a deep impact on her that she decided to serve the destitute. In 1948, she was granted permission from her superiors to leave the convent school and take on the task of serving the poor slum dwelle rs in Calcutta. Although she had no funds, it was her determination that kept he r going. With strong faith on the Divine Providence, she started an open-air sch ool for slum children. Soon, she was joined by volunteer helpers. Financial assi stance started pouring in. This made it possible for Mother Teresa to extend the scope of her social service. Mother Teresa s work was not limited to teaching the poor children; she also educa ted the adults. As she traveled across the slum areas of Calcutta, she noticed t hat there was a lack of basic facilities, such as hospitals and clinics, for the

poor. Hence, she learnt some basic medication techniques and started giving tre atment to those who could not afford medication. Her efforts influenced her form er pupils to form a group known as Missionaries of Charity . The group soon started a facility wherein poor people, who were dying on the streets, were brought and taken care of. The service inspired people to join the noble cause and donate f unds for the organization working under Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa made use of the donations and thousands of missionaries who had jo ined her, for the establishment of several centers for poor and needy people acr oss the world. In 1980, she started Homes for people with no one to look after t hem, people suffering from various incurable diseases, prostitutes, drug addicts and orphans. One of her most significant works was the establishment of center for AIDS patients in 1985, wherein thousands of patients were provided shelter. The Missionaries of Charity was officially recognized as an International Associ ation, on March 29, 1969. By the beginning of 1990s, the number of co-workers ha d increased manifold and there were about a million of them, working in about 40 countries across the world.