INDIA For the Missionaries of Charity, the land of the first shack visited by Mother Teresa

It was granted to him by the state of West Bengal under an equitable land development act. Five thousand people reside in the Motijhil shanty: Bengali Christians, Muslims and Hindus living together in harmony. Some of the older residents remember Mother Teresa’s presence at the local school.

Calcutta () – The Indian state of West Bengal has given the Missionaries of Charity land in the Motijhil shantytown, the place where Mother Teresa’s work began in 1948 in the service of the poor. This was announced by the superior general of the congregation, Sister Mary Joseph, during an event organized at the local school.

The land was handed over to the sisters last month under the West Bengal Thika Tenancy (Acquisition and Regulation) Act, a 2001 law “for the development and equitable use of land.”

On April 23, the sisters celebrated the news at the Nirmal Hriday school, located in the Motijhil slum. “75 years ago Mother Teresa came here to begin her great work, which has since spanned the globe,” said Bengali MP Derek O’Biren, who helped the sisters obtain the land. The students and children were accompanied by the four sisters who now run the school, Sisters Olive, Blaisy, Mohini and Ganza. The missionaries offer school support, but also training in tailoring for women

“Giving us the land is a nice gesture from the government to help us serve the poor. To do this, you have to be part of their lives and share their difficulties,” explained Superior General Mary Joseph, who served at the Nirmal Hriday school in 2016 to 2019. “The poor do not have water, sanitation services are deficient and their living space is limited. However, despite living in these conditions, they radiate hope.”

Five thousand people reside in the Motijhil shanty: Bengali Christians, Muslims and Hindus live in harmony, sharing their resources with each other. “I was five years old when Mother Teresa first came here. She accompanied my lessons while I was at school,” said Bhanik Singh, a local resident.

Mother Teresa, who taught in the 40s in the Entally district, at the College of the Sisters of Loreto (a congregation of which she was a member for 20 years), used to lean out of the window of the institute to observe the living conditions of the inhabitants of the Motijhil shanty. In December 1948, she walked for the first time among the dilapidated houses, but only later, after convincing her sisters and the Archbishop of Calcutta, did she receive permission from the Holy See to leave the convent and put herself at the service of the ” poorest of the poor”.