Nominated:
MAGGY BARANKITSE Maggy Barankitse and 7-year-old Dieudonné hug each other. Dieudonné is one of the many children in war-ravaged Burundi that Maggy has helped to a better life. It began when she saved the lives of 25 children in 1993. Since then, she has helped over 10,000 children. They have received food, clothing, medical care, a home, the chance to go to school and… love! ieudonné is a perky fellow, but his face bears the scars of war. When Maggy found him, four months old, his face was badly injured by the grenade that had killed his mother. Maggy, 46 years old, worked at the Bishop’s Manor in Ruyigi when the civil war between the Hutu and Tutsi peoples broke out. ‘I helped people from both groups find shelter at the Bishop’s Manor. But we were attacked by hundreds of Tutsis. They beat me and kicked me, but they let me live because I’m a Tutsi. ‘I managed to hide 25 children, but when the attack was over, all of them had lost their parents. Because I lost my parents when I was little, I know how important it is for a child to feel safe and loved. I decided to take care of the children myself,’ says Maggy. The war in Burundi has killed over 200,000 people, many of them children. Some 620,000 children have been orphaned by the war and AIDS.
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‘Children are kidnapped and forced to be soldiers, others have to quit school because no one can pay for their upkeep. Over half the children in Burundi don’t go to school. Many end up on the streets begging for a living, and they constantly risk being exploited. But the politicians keep spending money on weapons, not on children,’ says Maggy. The House of Peace Maggy and the children moved into an old school that they renamed ‘Maison Shalom’, the House of Peace. They belong to all of the peoples and religions in Burundi, but Maggy teaches them that they are all equals. ‘I want to show the people of Burundi that it’s possible to live together in peace.’ At first, there was only the orphanage at Maison Shalom, but Maggy didn’t want the children growing up in an orphanage. ‘That’s why I built five villages where the children can live in small families. There are a couple of ‘village mothers’ in every
village. The children learn to manage a household, grow vegetables and tend livestock, but most importantly they learn that they belong to a family that loves them. The things the children are learning in the villages will help them manage when they move away one day.’ Maggy has set up a bakery, a dressmaker’s workshop, a small boardinghouse and a farm. There, the children who have completed school can work and support themselves and their ‘families’. Maggy’s struggle for the children in Burundi is often dangerous. She
searches for abandoned and wounded children in war areas. She has been brought to trial several times, and many people have threatened to kill her because she tells the truth about the way politicians, the army and the rebels violate children’s rights. ‘My dream is to be able one day to close Maison Shalom, and see to it that every child in Burundi has a family to live with. But new children come to us every day, and we will be here as long as there are children who need our help and our love.’
Why has Maggy been nominated? Maggy Barankitse has been nominated for the World’s Children’s Prize and the Global Friends’ Award 2003 because of her 10-year-long struggle for children’s welfare in Burundi. Maggy has directly saved the lives of 25 children and helped over 10,000 children to a better life. She builds villages where orphaned children can grow up in ‘families’. They get food, clothing, medical care, schooling, homes… and love! She helps children from all the peoples and religions of the country and teaches them that they are equals. She also helps poor children in neighbouring villages, and shows that people in Burundi can help one another. Maggy takes risks when she points out that Burundi’s politicians, army and rebels violate children’s rights.
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Maggy Barankitse
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BURUNDI