A call for humanism in action

September 5th is the day of passing away of Mother Teresa, a day commemorated all over the world, a day in which humanity is called for action to help the poor of the poorest, something that Mother Teresa did all of her life.

Mother Teresa is cherished, admired and celebrated in all four parts of the globe, as her deeds are followed and put into practice by mankind, differently and in various forms but with one main goal, helping those who in need of help and giving hope and shelter to the hopelessness.

Mother Teresa was born in Skopje in 1910 as Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu and raised in a Roman Catholic ethnic Albanian family – father Kolë Bojaxhiu originally from the town of Prizren and mother Drane originally from the town of Gjakova, both from Kosovo. She is a symbol of extraordinary human values, with unique religious, social and cultural importance to the world, but also as a reference for the Albanian historical and cultural continuity and civilization, making thus Albanians very proud for her origin.

A missionary

Her path towards becoming a missionary of charity began when on August 15, 1928 during a pilgrimage, she was praying in front of Black Madonna in the church of Letnica (southeastern Kosovo) where she decided to dedicate herself to god and charitable work. She then immediately joined the Sisters of Loreto and went to Ireland to learn English, and after that, she ended up in Calcutta, India, in 1929 from where she served as a noun, and later headmaster of the Loreto convent school in eastern Calcutta. Living around the poor and those in need, she saw the need to do more for them and in 1950, at her initiative, the Missionaries of Charity was established, an institution which to this day carries the mission of helping the poor and those in need. Her deeds are worldwide known, for that she received many awards and recognitions, the most important being the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

As Mother Teresa said, ‘by blood I am Albanian, by citizenship an Indian, by faith I am a catholic nun, as to my calling I belong to the world, as to my heart I belong entirely to the heart of Jesus’.  Her deeds and calling showed us that she belongs to the world, and as such, no boundaries to her heritage exist. She was the symbol of hope and help for the poor people, irrespective of ethnicity, geographical belonging and political settlements.

Hungarian initiative

Many countries in the world cherish, praise and symbolize her existence in various forms, through building of statues, giving names to main squares, naming cathedrals, schools and humanitarian organizations with her name. In this regard, with the initiative of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Hungarian National Assembly, the UN General Assembly has designated September 5, the anniversary of the passing away of Mother Teresa as the International Day of Charity. The resolution designating this day was co-sponsored by 44 member states representing thus cross regional support of the initiative. This is a remarkable success of the Hungarian National Assembly and as such it is praised and commended.

Charity event

In marking this day, diplomatic corps representatives in Budapest, headed by the Apostolic Nunciature, the embassies of Albania, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Philippine, Germany, Italy, Japan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Mexico, Montenegro and Norway, under the patronage of Cardinal Péter Erdõ and the Major of Budapest István Tarlós, on 5th of September 2013, organized the first International Day of Charity with a mass at St. Stephen Basilica in Budapest and a photo exhibition about the life of Mother Teresa. The International Day of Charity is a monthly event and until the beginning of October a bank account will stay open for contribution to support two identified beneficiaries: Missionaries of Charity and Budapest Social Center (BMSZKI).

That there are poor and people in need everywhere and all of the time, that is a fact, and as Mother Teresa said - you can find Calcutta all over the world. In this respect, charity and humanism shall not be restricted locally nor only to be marked in one single day. In the spirit of the above, few days ago a high level meeting gathering also couple of heads of diplomatic missions took place in Budapest, with the aim of discussing ways of putting a working group and a charity program that would run throughout the year. However, the initiative needs bigger attention; therefore it needs an enlarged scope of institutions and key participants in its framework. For this, the ‘engines’ of the initiative have one main task ahead – inclusion and enlargement of the group of the willing to help the poor of the poorest.

“Stay where you are. Find your own Calcutta. Find the sick, the suffering, and the lonely right there where you are — in your own homes and in your own families, in your workplaces and in your schools. You can find Calcutta all over the world, if you have the eyes to see. Everywhere, wherever you go, you find people who are unwanted, unloved, uncared for, just rejected by society — completely forgotten, completely left alone.” (Mother Teresa)