The "Saint of the Gutters, " Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia on August 27, 1910. She was very religious from her childhood days and at the age of eighteen, she left her parental home in Skopje and joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns which ran many missions in India.
She first landed in India in May 1931. She taught as a teacher from 1931 to 1948, but her heart lay elsewhere. In 1948 she began her work among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta,West Bengal. She started running an open-air school for slum children and on October 7, 1950, she started her own order, The Missionaries of Charity".
The Missionaries of Charity spread to different countries all over the world undertaking relief work in times of natural calamities like floods, earthquakes, epidemics and famines. Besides, it runs shelters for alcoholics, homeless, and AIDS victims in different countries.
Her work won her accolades from individuals and governments all across the Globe. She was awarded the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize in 1971 and the Nehru Prize for her promotion of international peace and understanding in 1972, besides the Templeton and Magsaysay awards. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.
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