Mother Teresa arrives in SA to establish a missionary home for HIV/AIDS sufferers

Mother Teresa was born in Albania and at a young age felt compelled to care for the sick and poor. When she was eighteen years old, she left home and joined the Loreto sisters, an Irish community of nuns, working in India. After teaching at St. Mary's High School, she left the mission to work in the slums of Calcutta. In 1950, she received permission from the Holy See to establish her own order, called the Missionaries of Charity. The aim of the order was to care for orphans and to establish homes for people suffering from leprosy, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. The Missionaries of Charity began to expand, with missions being established world-wide. In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize and in 1980, she received the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honor in India for her humanitarian work. On 7 November 1988, Mother Teresa visited South Africa for the first time. She founded a mission of the order in Khayelitsha, which was to serve as a home for HIV/AIDS sufferers. At present, the Missionaries of Charity operates in 120 countries, with 600 missions.