Mother+Teresa

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By: Kulsoom Shuja and Sana Wajid. 8 Hillesheim. January 14 2010.

Early Years Of Life
Mother Teresa was born on August 26, 1910. Her original name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu which she later changed. She was the youngest of her other two siblings and her parents were Albanian. Before she reached the age of 17 she joined a group that was led by a Jesuit Priest. It was then that Agnes was interested in missionaries. She decieded to go to India for the first time and serve as a catholic missionary nun. In 1928 she became a Roman Catholic nun. She then changed her name to sister Teresa inspired by the name of Saint Therese of Lisieux. In 1929 she flew to Calcutta, and started teaching as a teacher in St Mary's High School. As a reward to her hard work in the high school, she was made the Principal of the school in the year 1944.

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Helping Hands **__

When she became a Principal, that year on December 21 **//st //**  she visited the poor people living in horrible conditions in the slums of India for the first time. There she helped an old and poor man and a women who was suffering from hunger as well as TB. Mother Teresa was a very caring individual and because she had this characteristic she made some very important decisions that followed. Visiting the less fortunate made her realize the importance of a good and clean environment that one needs to survive in. This left a deep mark in her thoughts and she was granted permission to leave the school she currently was a Principal in and she then devoted her life from then on towards serving the poor people.



Getting Started

Mother Teresa couldn't stand there and watch those who were poor and surrounded with poverty suffer, so she decided to go another step forward. When she received permission to leave the school she opened a school for the children living in the slums. Not much time later, volunteers came to her assistance, followed by financial aid. Along with the children, she also educated the adults. Across the areas of the slums in Calcutta, there weren't enough hospitals and clinics for the poor. For this reason she lean't a couple of basic medical treatment techniques and with those skills she treated those who couldn't afford the cost of the medication. Influenced by Mother Teresa's great efforts, people formed a group named 'Missionaries of Charity.' The group then for the poor people from the streets made facilities for them, created for medical treatments. This got others interested for this noble cause so people donated even more funds to the organization run by Mother Teresa. With those donations Mother Teresa made even more centre's with the same dream in her eyes to help the poor out of poverty. People who had no one who looked after them, Mother Teresa started to build homes for them in 1980. She also did this for people suffering from many diseases, prostitutes, orphans and also drug addicts. She also made a shelter home for the HIV/AIDS patients in 1985 in which thousand's were nursed. The 'Missionaries of Charity,' were then known worldwide on 1989 March 29. In the beginning of the year of 1990 the number of workers working for this group increased significantly up to an estimated 1 000 000 (one million). These workers were spread our in forty countries in the world.



Time Of Fame!

People all over the word became aware of Mother Teresa's great act of leadership. Worldwide, she was known for her love, peacefulness and humbleness. She won around 124 awards! She also won the 'Padmashree Award' (from India's president in 1962), 'John F. Kennedy International (1971), 'Bharat Ratna,' 'Order of Merit from Queen Elizabeth, 'Nobel Peace Prize' (1979). She also won the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize,' Medal of Freedom' (highest US Civilian award) followed by many, many more!



Last Few Years Of Life

Although she was going through some hard times due to her health. She didn't give up helping the poor and needy, and working for her church and society. In the year of 1997 Mother Teresa's sisters (nuns) were estimated four thousand who were currently with 610 foundations in about 123 countries around the globe. She spent her last few days giving instructions to her Sisters (nuns).



R.I.P Mother Teresa A huge loss to humanity was when Mother Teresa's death. It was a sudden shock and the world mourned her death. Exorcism was also performed on her by Pope John Paul. He said after performing exorcism on her he said she 'slept like a baby,' that night. She died due to Cardiac Failure and severe heart stroke. She had received in earlier years treatment for her cardiac problem. She also had a pacemaker placed into her heart. Her death took place on Sept 5th 1997 at around 9:30 p.m. Ironically, she died the same day as Princess Diana and her were close friends, Mother Teresa was very worried about Princess Diana's family, especially her two future Prince sons.  <span style="background-color: #feff00; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;"> Bibliography

1) Mother Teresa Of Calcutta. October 19 2003. Beatification in Rome. January 14 2010. http://www.ewtn.com/motherteresa/life.htm

2) Les Prix Nobel 1979. 2003. Norwegian Nobel Institute, The Nobel Foundation. January 14 2010. http://www.boes.org/coop/lmines/teresa_biography.html

3) Famous People. No Date Specified. January 14 2010. http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/mother-teresa-24.php

4) Mother Teresa Of Calcutta (1910-1997). No Date Specified. January 14 2010. http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20031019_madre-teresa_en.html#top