Born in Macedonia (now Yugoslavia) as Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in 1910, Mother Teresa was a Roman Catholic nun best known for her work with the poor. Mother Teresa joined the Sisters of Loreto, when she was 18 and moved to India in 1929. As a novitiate, she was sent to Calcutta and taught at St. Mary’s School for Girls. In 1946, Mother Teresa abandoned teaching to follow what she considered her calling, founding the Missionaries of Charity to live and serve in the slums of Calcutta. Over the course of the 1950s and ‘60s, she established a leper colony, an orphanage, a nursing home, a family clinic and a string of mobile clinics. In 1971, she traveled to New York to open her first U.S.-based house of charity. In 1985, she spoke at the 40th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly. By the time of her death, the Missionaries of Charity numbered over 4,000 sisters with 610 foundations in 123 countries. Her inspiring, devout persona and devotion to a singular idea make her a good example of a charismatic leader.
Mother Teresa is considered as the personality who with her love and her motivation to serves humanity, light up the hearts of not only her followers and supporters of her religion but the entire world, regardless of any religion.
In respect of Maslow’s needs theory, Mother Teresa is considered as an extremely healthy individual and has reached the level of self-actualization. Mother Teresa life history shows that she was a metamotivated lady, desire and then strives for everything which was deficit to her. Uniqueness, simplicity, goodness for people and self-sufficiency are few of her characteristics.
Case study also shows that she worked at the degree of the social needs of adoration, belongingness and affection. Although she helped and served individuals while spreading the message of the intensity of human touch, she didn’t do it for herself but for a bigger cause. The aim behind her activities, it tends to be guessed, was not to love from others, however to satisfy the wants of Jesus, to whom she had totally committed her life. Her accomplishments in every phase of life boosted her self-confidence and self-acceptance which helped a lot in her later life working for others. Her acceptance of oneself and other; acceptance of nature, spontaneity, naturalness and simplicity; democratic, peak experiences, freshness of appreciation, thinking of the solutions out of the box, strong interpersonal relations, social interests and her resistance to enculturation is what makes her self-actualized.
Mother Teresa can be said to have been best example of mankind. She has not only stated but also proved the humanistic view that ‘people have more potential than they believe’.