Page 61 - Phonebox Magazine October 2016

The most humbling moment of his life as John received ‘The Order of Mother Teresa’
needed it. They owned very few material possessions. Each sister had two Saris, one on and one in the wash. In winter, to stay warm, they were allowed a jacket. Underneath the Sari they were wearing they carried a small bottle of water—that was it, they owned nothing else, nor wanted anything. No television, computer, washing machine, house, car or even bicycle. Their existence was frugal to say the least but not one of them would change it. They were special and their love of humanity was all consuming. It made me question my own values. Talking to her one day in April 1993 in Albania’s capital, Tirana, I sensed she was troubled. “Mother” I asked, “what’s the trouble, is something wrong?” “ No,” came an almost instant reply, “I’m just deep in thought.” “If I could help you, you would say so – wouldn’t you?” She looked at me in a rather old fashioned way before finally getting to the issue.
“I am supposed to be in West Africa tomorrow with sister Nirmala, and I don’t know how we are going to get there—we don’t have any tickets.”
A major problem for her as her organisation had grown so large was getting from country to country. She had to rely on charity, and as she never asked for it—it wasn’t always forthcoming. “Perhaps,” I said, “I could have a word with British Airways when I return to London on Sunday.” “Would you really,” she replied, “that would be wonderful. Thank you so much.”
At 9.00am on Monday morning I was on the phone to British Airways at West Drayton. I had to repeat my story to countless secretaries and each one transferred me to the next. It was almost 11 o’clock and I was getting nowhere. Frustration began to set in but I needed to stay focused and resolute. The operator said she was transferring my call to Manchester. More secretaries and officials then back to West Drayton. It was now noon and my overwhelming thought was my impending telephone bill. Just then, a man spoke. “Mr van Weenen it’s Marshall here—now tell me this story.”
Good God, I thought, I’ve got through to the CEO of British Airways himself, Sir Colin Marshall. He listened politely and when I had finished, told me to put the phone down and I would get a call back from a senior BA executive, a Mr Gary Gray. Five minutes later he called. “It’s John isn’t it? Now tell me this story.” I’d told it so many times, I knew it by heart and I repeated it once more. Mr Gray asked me to fax him the countries Mother Teresa intended visiting, the dates and whom she would be travelling with for the remainder of 1993 and 1994. “I’ll call you in a week,” he said and the phone went dead.
A week later the phone rang. “John, Gary Gray here, I’ve got some good news for you—You’ve got what you wanted! You have two tickets for Mother Teresa and her companion to fly any where in the world, on any British Airways route, for the rest of her life, free.”
“Thank you so much,” I said. He read out a telephone number to me. “Give this to her and whenever she wants to travel, just call and immediately BA will make all the arrangements.” Some months later I met her in London and she was so thankful. Indeed other airlines had begun to follow suit. Looking back, I was so happy to have been able to help her in a tiny way; after all, she had done so much for so many people—I thanked God I had been given the opportunity.
When she died of a heart attack on 5th September 1997, thousands upon thousands filed past her body to pay their last respects as it lay in state at St Thomas’s Church. The Nobel Laureate’s body had been taken from Motherhouse, the headquarters of MC she founded to look after the dying, destitute and unwanted. She was draped in the distinctive blue-bordered white cotton sari and surrounded by white lotus flowers and roses. Her funeral on 13th September was declared a national day of mourning and her body was draped in the Indian flag and carried on the gun-carriage that bore the bodies of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.
What an incredible difference this one lady has made to the world. From her birth in Skopje as Agnes, but nick-named ‘Gonxha’ meaning ‘flower bud’ in Albanian to the Loreto Order in Rathfarnham in Ireland and the Entally convent in Calcutta. It was inevitable that Mother Teresa would carry her work overseas and in 1965 her first non-Indian house was opened in Venezuela. Thirty three years later, five hundred and eighty four houses existed in one hundred and fifteen countries. In recognition of her unique work, the world lavished on her its highest honours and awards from the Nobel Peace Prize to the Order of Merit presented by Queen Elizabeth. These she accepted only in the name of the poor, whom she and her Missionaries of Charity served so devotedly.
The celebrated author and journalist, Malcolm Muggeridge, wrote about Mother Teresa in his book ‘Something Beautiful For God’:
“It will be for posterity to decide if she is a saint. I can only say that in a dark time she is a burning and shining light; in a carnal time, a living embodiment of Christ’s gospel of love, in a godless time, the Word dwelling amongst us, full of grace and truth.”
‘A special letter’
October 2016 | Phonebox Magazine 61