Chapter 7
SHISHU BHAVAN AND
SHANTINAGAR: PLACES OF
PEACE
By 1955, Mother Teresa turned her energies to another group in need: the
children of the poor. In a relatively short time, Mother Teresa and the
Missionaries of Charity had made progress in providing education for poor
children with the creation of schools in the slums. But providing children
with an education paled beside even bigger problem: what to do with the
growing number of unwanted and abandoned children in the city.
Since India’s independence, the number of unwanted children roaming
in the streets of Calcutta has increased. Orphaned, sick, and disabled chil-
dren were often cast into the streets to fend for themselves. Some children
tried to eke out a living by begging, others through petty crime such as
stealing. Poor families, faced with the growing burden of supporting their
children, abandoned them. Young girls and infants particularly were at
great risk, because in Indian society boys are considered more valuable.
Evidence of this cultural bias was everywhere; for the Missionaries of
Charity the sight of a newborn female infant, alone and left to die, was
common. For Mother Teresa, children were a special gift from God. She
wrote:
Children long for somebody to accept them, to love them, to
praise them, to be proud of them. Let us bring the child back to
the center of our care and concern. This is the only way the
world can survive because our children are the only hope for
the future. As older people are called to God, only their chil-
dren can take their place.^1