Mother Teresa - A True Mother: Part 2 of 2

Continuing the article looking at the life of humanitarian Mother Teresa.

Having first undergone nursing training at Patna she returned to Calcutta to start her work. Dressed in a cheap sari she tended the sick and helped the poor as best she could. Teaching them about hygiene and cleanliness. She also taught the children to read and write. Living amongst the Sisters of the Poor she managed to bring not only education to the lives of the poor, but to spread the work of God.

When other women started to come to her begging to be allowed to help in her work and follow her footsteps, the Missionaries of Charity were formed. Papal approval for the Society came in 1950. Another successful appeal to the Pope opened up not only India, but the world to the Mother Teresa's love and compassion. By donations she was able to open homes for the dying, orphanages for the children with no-one to care for them, and care for the sick and hungry. Around the globe the world started to notice this small woman with a large heart, and awards began to arrive. In 1962 she received her first prize for humanitarian work, the "Padma Shri". The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 1979. The US Medal of Freedom in 1985. The money associated with these prizes was used to fund the Society's projects around the world.

The years are passed and she began to look frail. A number of health scares culminate in heart attacks and the fitting of a pace-maker. Her bones became more brittle and a number of breaks were sustained from falls in the 1990s. Finally on 5th September 1997 the woman whom so many people thought of as one of the leading women in the world was finally called home to her God. She was 87 years old.

The very people she loved were those shunned at her final departure from this earth. The powers that be in Calcutta deciding that foreign dignitaries and those in power more deserving of a chance to say goodbye then those Mother Teresa loved. In her lifetime she lived as she chose, amongst the poor people she loved. In her death her government could not find the charity within themselves to continue her work by acknowledging the importance these people had played in her life. However, I know that no matter how far back in the crowds they were on that day, they were the people her spirit would seek to comfort and not the chosen ones whom the government thought more worthy for one reason or another.

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