Mother Teresa: a biography

REACHING OUT IN OTHER WAYS
Besides organizing the children’s homes, Mother Teresa reached out to
the poor in other ways. In 1956, she organized her first mobile clinic to
help those who could not get to one of the free clinics. She was aided by
Catholic Relief Services in New York City, which donated $5,000 to
transform an old van into a traveling medical dispensary that visited the
slums throughout the city offering free medical services. With the help of
some doctors, a small laboratory was set up in Shishu Bhavan to do med-
ical testing.
The Shishu Bhavan also became a buzzing center of activity for feeding
the poor. In the home’s small kitchen, the sisters cooked as much rice as
they could, which they handed out along with bananas. On any given af-
ternoon, there were anywhere from 50 to 100 women with children wait-
ing to receive food. For many, this was the only meal of the day.
There were some hazards in providing the free food. On one occasion,
the sisters had nothing to give out for that day, for the agency that sup-
plied them had stopped sending food to the home. The hungry crowd
grew angrier and angrier; some even tried to set fire to the home. At one
point Mother Teresa pushed back with surprising strength a whole line of
women who rushed forward to receive their food. It was only because of
the arrival of the police and fire brigade that the incident did not esca-
late into something more serious. On another, less dangerous occasion,
the kitchen ran out of plates and the sisters used dinner plates from the
Motherhouse to give to the poor.
TENDING TO THE UNCLEAN
Mother Teresa introduced the mobile dispensary in 1956 in response to
another growing problem on the Calcutta streets: lepers. Earlier, the
Gobra hospital, which housed many of the city’s leprosy cases, had closed,
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leaving thousands of patients with no place to go. Mother Teresa had lob-
bied hard against the closing, but growing pressure from local residents
and developers, who wanted the hospital moved away from the area,
forced the city to shut down the facility. A new hospital for lepers was
soon built further outside the city limits.
Mother Teresa, realizing that it would be difficult for the former pa-
tients of Gobra to go to the new facility, decided to open up her own
clinic. Like the former Gobra facility, she found a site that was centrally
located, which would make it easier for patients to receive treatment.
However, residents in the neighborhood, upon learning of the proposed
clinic, did their best to stop her efforts. On one occasion, when she ar-
rived in the neighborhood to inspect the site, she was met by angry
neighborhood residents who began throwing stones at her. She took the
angry response in stride and remarked that it appeared that God did not
want the clinic in this area. She would pray for guidance.
As if in answer to her prayers, some American benefactors donated an
ambulance to the Missionaries of Charity. Mother Teresa hoped the vehi-
cle would be the first of many mobile leprosy clinics. More help came from
a Dr. Sen, a physician and specialist in the treatment of skin disease and
leprosy. Sen had recently retired from the Carmichael Hospital for Tropi-
cal Diseases. Unsure of what to do with his free time and having heard of
the works of the Missionaries of Charity, he offered his services. Mother
Teresa gratefully accepted. Assisting Dr. Sen were three sisters who had
received nurse’s training.
In September 1957, the first mobile leprosy clinic was launched. The
ambulance could hold six persons along with a generous supply of medi-
cine, food, and medical records. Traveling from slum to slum, and also
making a stop outside the walls of the Loreto convent, the Missionaries of
Charity sought out the city’s lepers. In time, eight treatment stations were
established throughout Calcutta offering hope to the city’s 30,000 persons
afflicted by leprosy. The bright blue vehicle soon became a recognized
symbol of help and comfort. At each stop, the sisters handed out vitamins
and medicine, along with packets of food. By January 1958, over 600 lep-
ers regularly sought treatment from the mobile clinic.