Description
GONXHA AGNES BOJAXHIU, born in Yugoslavia of Albanian parents, became SISTER TERESA when at the age of 18 she took her vows in the Institute of the Virgin Mary in Ireland. The following year, in 1929, she was sent to the Loreto Community in Calcutta where for 20 years she fulfilled her obligations as a teacher.
For abandoned lame, blind and tubercular children, the Missionaries of Charity run a second home, Sishu Bhavan. Six dispensaries are now operated with the assistance of volunteer doctors and at 52 relief centers, food, milk and clothing collected by the Missionaries are given to the needy. In the poorest districts of the city, under trees or a matting roof, the Missionaries conduct regular day schools, teaching children to read and write in Hindi and do simple sums.
Leprosy being prevalent and facilities for treatment overburdened, a mobile clinic manned by nuns trained in the Leprosy Department of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases administers especially to lepers. On a more modest scale this work is repeated in Delhi and six other cities. The Missionaries also maintain a home in Delhi for orphans and retarded children.
