Important People

Mother Teresa (1910-?) is one of the most famous helpers of all people. She was born in Albania and founded the group Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India. The Missionaries of Charity take four vows of acceptance, they are, poverty, chastity, obedience and the fourth is a vow pledging service to the poor. Mother Teresa's main idea is to spread love throughout the world and to give the poorest of the poor the simple dignity of human recognition and love. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in 1979. Currently she has had to cut back on her work due to health problems and the Missionaries are now looking for a successor to Mother Teresa. Just recently Mother Teresa was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor for her work with the world's poverty stricken.

Dr. Norman Borlaug is called the father of the Green Revolution, he did amazing things for agriculture in Mexico. The Green Revolution is the name given to the changes brought about by growing new kinds of grains and by making better use of water and fertilizers. In 1944 he joined the Rockefeller Foundation and they sent him to Mexico to do work on the Mexican wheat fields, which were not producing enough wheat to feed the hungry people. It took 25 years of hard work until he finally found his "miracle" grain. The new wheat made it possible to produce 100 bushels per acre compared to 11 before he began his work. The grain did not just benefit Mexico other countries received the grain including India and Pakistan. In 1970 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in the fields of Mexico.

Finally, John Boyd-Orr of Great Britain, he gained fame with the publication of Food, Health, and Income (1936), a report of a dietary survey by income groups that showed that the cost of a diet fulfilling basic nutrition was beyond the means of half the British population and that 10% of the population was undernourished. In 1948 he became the director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1949.

These people went beyond the call of duty to help hungry and famished people throughout the world, and all of them have been recognized through the Nobel Peace Prize. They were and are extraordinary people who we need to remember and never forget.