Come and See

Book by Schaefer, Linda

When Schaefer first showed up unannounced at Mother Teresa's headquarters in Calcutta in 1995 and begged to be allowed to do a photo book of the nun's life and work, the answer was a humble but firm "no." Instead, Mother Teresa put Schaefer to work as a volunteer, changing diapers and playing with the children in one of the Missionaries of Charity's 40-odd orphanages. Over time, as Schaefer's motivations shifted from a drive to merely document to a desire to participate in the ministry, the nun permitted her to bring out the camera. The result is this unique, behind-the-scenes collection of photos from various outreach centers throughout India, including a leper colony and a hospice for the dying. Schaefer draws on her own experiences and on interviews with other volunteers, who come from many different nationalities and religious backgrounds. In all, this is a very appropriate tribute to Mother Teresa on the eve of her canonization, since it celebrates not just the woman's life, but the people who were her life's work.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Despite the carping of British socialist Christopher Hitchens, most people consider the ministry of the late Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity to the orphans, lepers, and dying, whom many have called the poorest of the poor, the most powerful argument for Christianity in the world today. Schaefer was affected powerfully enough by her ministry to pursue ardently the opportunity to photograph the order's leader and work, and then to put it off a bit, at Mother Teresa's request, to help care for the inmates at one of the order's facilities for the dying. Her account, unaffected to the point of naivete, of her encounters with Mother Teresa, India, and a cross section of the order's members and voluntary helpers stirs the emotions as hers were stirred by the order's work, even without the complement of 155 color photographs she eventually took of Mother Teresa and her work. In combination with those pictures, this unpretentious album's power is immense. A lovely testament of the healing of sufferers, healers, and observer alike. Ray Olson
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