Skopje, Macedonia, 05 October 2013: Blessed Teresa of Kolkata is all set to come
alive in her home town. The prime minister of Macedonia has decided to name Balkan
region's longest and most important highway after the founder of Missionaries of Charity.
As
part of the government's plan to familiarize people of the entire region with Mother
Teresa - who was born as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje on August 26, 1910 with her
family being of Albanian descent, Bronze plaques with her teaching are being drilled
into prominent buildings and busy side walks across town.
The government is
also giving thought to a proposal whether Mother Teresa's picture can be put on the
currency note. A massive 60 feet statue of the greatest humanitarian of modern times
is also coming up in one of the city's main boulevards, thanks to Sahara chief Subrata
Roy.
Roy who has known Mother Teresa since the 1990s has set plans rolling
to construct an entire square in the Macedonian capital with a gigantic statue of
her in the middle of it. Roy envisages making Skopje a "mecca for all Mother Teresa
followers" who are keen to trace back her life, starting from the house she was born.
Roy
is also building a massive home for the destitute that would accommodate 300 sick,
needy and the downtrodden in Skopje. According to Roy, the present head of the Missionaries
of Charity will be invited to take a look at the new home meant for those Mother Teresa
cared for most.
In an exclusive interview to TOI, prime minister of Macedonia
Nikola Gruevski said, "We are engraving some of Mother Teresa's best quotes and teaching
in bronze plaques and setting them up in busy streets and prominent buildings so that
everyone passing by can learn something from them every day. We have already installed
17 such plaques across Skopje and in the next one month will install 22 more. We will
do the same in other cities of Macedonia."
Mr Gruevski added to TOI, "One of
the region's most important highways - as long as about 300 kms is being named after
Mother Teresa. It connects Bulgaria to Skopje and stretches further top connect with
Albania. Some part of it already exists, the rest we are constructing which should
end by 2017. We have named Macedonia's most advanced and primary health clinic after
Mother Teresa. We already have a memorial house after her. Mother Teresa will become
the new symbol of Macedonia. Her followers come from across the world and everyone
knows her, even in Middle Eastern countries."
According to the Nobel Institute
that awarded Mother Teresa the Nobel peace prize, Mother Teresa felt a strong calling
from God at the age of 12 and knew she had to be a missionary to spread the love of
Christ. At the age of 18, she left her parental home in Skopje and joined the sisters
of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns with missions in India.
A small monument
presently stands near the place where her parents' house was - a square called Makedonija.Source:
TOI