A nun of the Missionaries of Charity with children at Sishu Bhavan. Picture by S.H. Patgiri

Sept. 26: Stamps issued by the Vatican, a vial of her blood on display, even a musical and a cartoon celebrating her life. These are some of the ways in which Mother Teresa’s followers are honouring the nun who will take a step towards sainthood when she is beatified on October 19.

Albania has declared 2004 as “Mother Teresa Year” and set aside October 19 as a national holiday. India will hold its celebrations from November 8 to 9.

The city, too, will commemorate the beatification of Mother Teresa with a one-day festival on November 1. “We are also commemorating the successful completion of 25 years of dedicated service by the Missionaries of Charity to the people of Guwahati,” said Fr Joseph Thelekkatt, convenor of the organising committee.

Born Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia to an ethnic Albanian family, Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997, in India, where she spent most of her life caring for the poorest in Calcutta’s slums.

The process leading up to the beatification has been the shortest in modern history. A year after she died, Pope John Paul II waived the normal five-year waiting period for the beatification process to begin, convinced of her saintliness and intent on at least beatifying her in his lifetime. Mother Teresa first came to the city in 1978 and set up Sishu Bhavan and Nirmal Hriday at a small Assam-type house at Bharalumukh in Guwahati. It houses destitute and underprivileged children and adults.

The land was donated by Kali Charan Das, a doctor of the city, to Mother Teresa to set up a home for the destitute.

“We had to initially face a lot of problems in starting the home at Bharalumukh. The people of the neighbourhood used to throw stones and there was a lot of resentment. We had to take police protection for nearly a month,” added Thelekkatt.

Till date, the sisters of the Missionaries of Charity have been able to cater to over 2,166 orphans and malnourished children. Of them, 479 were given in adoption locally and 57 of them were cared for and given away in marriage. Another 1,299 were sent for international adoption through the Calcutta centre.

“The sisters also effectively run slum schools where they have helped to educate over 1,292 children. Till date, the sisters had been able to shelter 9,145 destitute people in Nirmal Hriday, the home for dying destitutes,” added Thelekkatt.

Shantidaan, the AIDS hospice, was also set up to alleviate the sufferings of AIDS patients in 1995. “Mother had come on a wheelchair to inaugurate the hospice,” added Thelekkatt.

As part of the celebrations, a number of competitions will be organised among school students. “We will organise drawing, painting, essay, quiz and banner competitions on Mother Teresa for various age groups,” he added. Other programmes of the day will include religious services and a public meeting.