Mother Teresa: a biography

TITLAGARH
For those stricken with leprosy, there was one place outside of Calcutta
to go—Titlagarh, an industrial suburb located about an hour’s drive from
Calcutta. Near the railway lines, a cluster of shanties had sprung up on ei-
ther side. It was a village of the poor, with the lepers occupying the hov-
els alongside a swamp. The area was a human cesspool: there was no
drainage or sewage, no drinking water, and no electricity. Even the
wretchedly poor had nothing to do with the lepers. Townspeople and the
8 6
M O T H E R T E R E S A

---

police also stayed away for fear of infection. As a result, crime was ram-
pant and indiscriminate; violence and murder were everyday happenings.
The lepers, because of their disease and poverty, could not seek out treat-
ment; no doctor, clinic, or hospital in Titlagarh would see them.
In the meantime, even with the success of the mobile clinic, Mother
Teresa and her sisters realized that there were still a number of patients
from Titlagarh who could not afford the bus or train fare every week to
seek help. Those who could often found themselves banned from riding.
In addition, Mother Teresa and the sisters were seeing more cases of new-
borns afflicted with leprosy; and it was a burden for mothers to come to
the clinics. Many patients asked Mother Teresa to open a permanent
clinic for them nearer to home.
When she made her first visit to Titlagarh, Mother Teresa realized that
something needed to be done. Within a few months, she had established
a small clinic in a shed near the railway lines. A few sisters were sent to
handle the enormous caseload for the Titlagarh clinic. But it soon became
evident that more needed to be done.
To draw attention to the plight of the lepers, Mother Teresa turned
once again to her lay volunteers and benefactors. Many groups, hearing of
the living conditions of the lepers, banded together to support a citywide
collection to help them. The symbol used for the collection drive was a
bell, the ancient symbol of the so-called unclean, but now pressed into
service as a symbol of compassion. The slogan of the collection drive was
Touch the Leper with Your Compassion; and the saying was carried on
posters, signs, newspapers, and on the mobile van, too. The citywide cam-
paign made it possible for even more lepers to be treated by uncovering
other areas where groups of lepers resided.
Finally work was begun on the construction of a more permanent
building. But that project ran into early difficulties. The first attempts to
improve the living conditions of the railway site were met with opposi-
tion from gang leaders who ran most of the illegal activities in the area.
Stones greeted the volunteers who were cleaning up the site, but they
persisted. Construction of two small cottages at last began, and with
them, resistance to the construction faded. The gang leaders fled and
many of the residents pitched in to help with the building. In addition to
the clinic, which opened in March 1959, the facility housed a rehabilita-
tion center, a hospital, and a cafeteria. An assortment of utility buildings
was added during a 10-year period. By the time construction was finished
in 1968, the buildings constituted a mile-long stretch. Mother Teresa
asked the municipality of Titlagarh for water, sewers, and electricity for
the area. Children were put into local schools, and slowly small shops
S H I S H U B H AVA N A N D S H A N T I N A G A R
8 7

---

and stalls appeared in the area where once only crime and violence had
flourished.
But no sooner had the clinic opened than the municipal leaders feared
an influx of lepers would come to Titlagarh. They begged Mother Teresa
to consider opening yet another facility for lepers. With that in mind,
Mother Teresa turned to her next project: Shantinagar.