Mother Teresa
"nun who helped the poor"
Thesis/Introduction
Body
Mother Teresa unselfishly dedicated her life to the people of India when she would not have had to do so. Mother Teresa left her parents home in what is now Macedonia to become a nun when she was only 18. When she was 21, she went to India and spent the rest of her life there. For much of that time, she was running a ministry that took care of the poorest people in the cities. Because she was so selfless, she has become famous and widely revered.
One of her first projects was to teach the children of the poor – drawing on her experience with teaching the children of the rich. She didn’t have any equipment or supplies this time, but she taught them to read and write by writing in the dirt with sticks. In addition to promoting literacy, Teresa taught the children basic hygiene. She visited their families, inquiring about their needs and helping provide for them when she could. By 1950 she was able to start the Mission of Charity – a congregation dedicated to caring for “the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone.” She went on to open a hospice for the poor, a home for sufferers of leprosy, and a home for orphans and homeless youths.
Mother Teresa was honored with many awards throughout her life, from the Indian Padma Shri in 1962 to the inaugural Pope John XXIII Peace Prize in 1971 to Albania’s Golden Honour of the Nation in 1994 and, most famously, the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She refused the traditional Nobel honor banquet, instead requesting that the $192,000 budget be given to help the poor of India.