Prizren, September 5, 2022
In the context of the ‘Days of Mother Teresa’, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti gave a speech at the event organized by the Government of the Republic of Kosovo, which took place in Prizren.
“As an Albanian girl, from one corner of Europe, Teresa crossed the sea to be educated in Hibernia on the other side of the continent. As a European, she crossed the ocean to serve in India. As an adopted Indian, Mother Teresa overcame class, ethnic, racial and religious divisions to become the shield of the most vulnerable”, Prime Minister Kurti said in his speech.
In occupied Kosovo, our people organized healthcare services and charity with the very name of Mother Teresa, with the historical association of solidarity, said Prime Minister Kurti as he added that even in the most difficult times for the Albanian nation, during the 90s, she sent messages through prayers, addressing the head of the Albanian state, that together we can do something beautiful for God and our people.
“She was one of us, and all of us are aware of her deeds that make all humanity proud. Today I bow before our saint, Mother Teresa, who with her work did not fill a gap, but raised our nation, not where it was missing but where it deserved to be “, said Prime Minister Kurti at the end of his speech.
Prime Minister Kurti’s full speech:
Honorable President of the Republic of Kosovo, Mrs. Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu,
Honorable Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Mrs. Emilija Rexhepi,
Honorable Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, Mr. Hajrulla Çeku,
Honorable Mayor of the Municipality of Prizren, Mr. Shaqir Totaj,
Dear Nuns ,
Ladies and gentleman,
Dear participants,
Today, at this place together with you, I have the special honor and pleasure to commemorate our daughter, the universal Mother, the Albanian saint, Saint Teresa, in this Museum which will preserve her spirit and the continuity of goodness, humanity and hope, in our Kosovo.
This museum, which brings St. Mother Teresa back to Prizren in everyday life, opens the path of her goal which was embodied in the great mission she had: to create sustainable institutions at the service of the poorest.
Every day we walk through the central boulevard of our capital and every day it seems that an invisible warmth of maternal love radiates there. We don’t always think about why this is so. It seems so self-evident to us, like any unconditional caress of mothers. The boulevard bears the name of a woman, a daughter of this people, born and raised in these lands, who amazed the whole world with her charitable deeds.
Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, the daughter of Drane (Drandofile) from Gjakova and Kola (Nikollë) from Prizren, was born on August 26, 1910 in Skopje, in times when it was not easy to be Albanian. Kola was a dedicated patriot, who had also financially supported the independence movement of Albania, and in 1919 he traveled to Belgrade, in a political meeting about Kosovo. After returning from this meeting, he fell seriously ill and died under suspicious circumstances, apparently poisoned. Little nine-year-old Gonxhe had to grow up without a father. However, with all the blows that life would bring to her, she would never surrender before life’s challenges.
On August 14, 1927, while praying in the church of the Black Madonna in Letnica, she felt the call to her future work as a missionary sister. After a year, she left for Ireland, where she began life as a Catholic nun, and from there she went to India, to find herself among those who were said to be the poorest of the poorest in the world. She started the battle against poverty and the suffering of people abandoned by everyone with 12 sisters of charity in the suburbs of the city of Calcutta in India. When she died, her association had about four thousand sisters of charity all over the world. But, as she would say, “the poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty”.
So, as an Albanian girl from one corner of Europe, Teresa crossed the sea to be educated in Hibernia, on the other side of the continent. As a European, she crossed the ocean to serve in India. As an adopted Indian, Mother Teresa overcame class, ethnic, racial and religious divisions to become a shield for the most vulnerable.
In her life, Mother Teresa experienced despair and severe spiritual breakdowns, with the early death of her father, with the separation from her mother and sister, with the impossibility of meeting them even in their last moments of life. When she came to Albania, in 1991, and visited the graves of her mother and sister, she said that she had already forgiven all those who had caused her so much suffering. Mother Teresa also visited Kosovo several times, especially the church of Letnica, where for the first time she had decided on her life path of charity. In occupied Kosovo, our people organized healthcare and charity with the very name of Mother Teresa, with the historical association of solidarity.
Even in the toughest times for the Albanian nation during the nineties, she used to send messages through prayers, addressing the head of the Albanian state that “together we can do something beautiful for God and our people”; “I want to pray for the poor people of Albania and for Kosovo that is suffering”. These prayers resonate from her the Albanian side of her in relation to the heavy periods that our nation was going through.
“You will love your homeland more when you love each other more”. These were the words of Mother Teresa, which echo to this day.
With her association “Missionaries of Charity”, Saint Mother Teresa could neither eradicate poverty, nor completely eradicate all of humanity’s suffering, but it turned into a ray of hope and in a guide of charity and love, beyond state borders, beyond racial, class and national divisions. With her example she taught us that in each of us there is an extraordinary human power for goodness and love.
Her figure has crossed a quarter of a century after her death – as a symbol of the nation’s pride, as a call of the people in difficult days, as an inspiration in our efforts to recovery. Mother Teresa was a transcendental personality. She exceeded the goals of nature, imagination and beliefs that limited and separated people and brought sufferings and injustices to humanity.
Mother Teresa followed Christ’s example and her maternal care was the missing spiritual consolation of the ordinary people, her words were a balm for the pains of the most afflicted. The sweet word and openness must start from ourselves, because as she used to say “if you judge people, then you don’t have time to love them”.
She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize unlike many people who deal with politics, even indirectly. She was declared an honorary citizen of the United States of America, receiving the reward that until then had been given to only four people. Catholic Church blessed and sanctified her for her service, and the believers of Calcutta embraced her for their patron saint.
Mother Teresa became a great name of the world and of humanity because she believed in the power of the small work of kindness. She commanded people to love one another. She acted without waiting for a better moment to act. “We fear the future,” she said, “because we are wasting the today.” Her words encourage us to work for the good especially now, on the 25th anniversary of her passing into eternity.
UN Secretary General Xavier Perez de Cuellar invited Mother Teresa to attend the session of the General Assembly and to speak with the representatives of all countries of the world. When she arrived at the great hall of the Glass Palace on 26 October 1985, in front of the “crème de la crème” of world diplomacy, he said: “I present to you the most powerful woman in the world”. And he meant it seriously, because Mother Teresa, petite and bent, dressed in a sari and leather sandals, was really the most powerful woman in the world.
She was one of us, while all of us are aware of her deeds, which make the whole mankind proud. Her divine light emanates from the call to devote oneself with mind and heart to people who need help. Today, I bow down to our saint, Mother Teresa, who did not fill a gap with her work, but raised our nation, not where it was missing but where it deserved to be.
For all her extraordinary work, six years ago, on 4 September 2016, she was canonized by Pope Francis in a ceremony in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City. Giving love and kindness to the world, she became synonymous with love and kindness. For us, she will always remain both the Nobel laureate and our first Albanian saint whom we will be proud of as a nation, always following her advice that “peace begins with a smile”.
Thank you!
Last modified: September 7, 2022