I sat next to Maggy for breakfast again today. The smile never leaves her face. Yes, she talks a lot because she knows we
want to hear the story. We want to know
everything. When her girls come in, she
shows us the scars on their wrists and head and neck where the merciless
machete blows left their marks. They
were only 5 or 6 years old, but she took them and cared for them even flew one
to France – a little orphaned girl in a coma—and stayed with her for months
until she was able to return to Burundi.
But these were not the first.
Maggy had taken in seven orphans from the war and was searching for a
place to hide them. Four were Hutu and
three were Tutsi. Hutu’s would not take
her because she was Tutsi and she had three Tutsi children. The Tutsi would not take her because she had
four Hutu children. Finally she gathered
her Hutu friends and her children and they hid in the church.
She told them, “If the Tutsi come, I will protect you. If the Hutu come, you can protect me."
She told them, “If the Tutsi come, I will protect you. If the Hutu come, you can protect me."
But Sunday morning the
Tutsi came. She said to them, “It is
Sunday, you are all Christians. Leave us
alone.” But they said, “Oh, you love
these people so much. We will show you.” They stripped her naked and tied her to a
chair and made her watch them kill 72 Hutu friends before her eyes.
They looked for others in the church and
asked at the closet of the priest, “Is anyone here.” A little orphan boy said, “No,” and they
left. She feels they were protected by
the angels of heaven.
Maggy determined
to never hate like that. She buried her
friends in a common grave as there was no time or ability to do better. She kept the place secret hoping to protect
them from further desecration. Later
she marked the sacred place with the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, harmony;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much
seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal
life.
Thus began her quest to bless humanity especially those
affected by war and hatred. She had as
many as 500 orphans at one time because they would bring them to her from
Rwanda, and the Congo. Another time they
(the rebels) sent a child warrior to kill her.
He told her to kneel down. She
said to him, “Why do you want to kill me, my child? Why do you want to kill your mother?” He said, “You are my mother?” “She said, “Yes, you can come and be my
driver. You don’t have to kill
anymore.” He came and is still her
driver to this day.
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| Richard (right) was one of her orphans. He had been locked in a school which was set on fire. He is now one of her directors. |
Her philosophy is to keep children in the family if
possible. She began searching for their extended families and then she provided a house for the children near them.
Where parents were killed, there
were still existing aunts and uncles and cousins who survived. With a home of their own and being near
family, they could learn to work and support themselves. In an Institution, it is hard for them to
have an identity.
Now she has the best hospital in Burundi, a farm where she
teaches people how to grow food and care for animals. She built Angel City, a theater, a swimming
pool and a library. In the theater she
had them put on plays and they acted out things from the war to help victims
and perpetrators heal.
She continues to
follow up with those in her program, but she is slowly giving responsibility to
her “children”. The orphans she cared
for have become her colleagues. They run
the three hotels, the farm, the Angel city and the hospital. They have gone to school and become trained. They have married and live in their own homes caring for their children. They
prepared the food for us while we stayed with her at her modest home. She stands for right and truth wherever she
is.
At Rema hospital one morning, we
visited classrooms in the medical school.
She gave inspiring messages to the students.
Then, on the sidewalk we met a young woman
with a child on her back. Maggy stopped
and talked to her sternly in Kirundi.
Later she told us that she was telling the woman that there was no
excuse for being dirty. “We have water
here in Burundi. You can be poor, but
you can be clean.”
When we visited her
school, the children were the cleanest we had seen in Africa. The classes were normal size, 25 or so. The rooms and grounds were clean with beautiful grassy areas.
Yes, I sat next to Maggy and marveled at her strength and
purpose. She epitomized what I read
recently in
“A Year of Miracles.”
“I love, I love!” you might say. And of course you love. We all do.
The problem, however, is that we do not love only. We love, but then we take it back. We love, but then we stop when it becomes
inconvenient. We love, but only until
the ego is challenged by the thought of risk.
“And so it is that while we love, we do not wield the power
of love. We love, but we do not love
only. And so we love, but we do not work miracles.
“For miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. When you choose to love, you choose to work
miracles.”
And also what we read from the Teachings of the Prophet
Joseph Smith:
“The work in which we are unitedly engaged is one of no
ordinary kind. The enemies we have to
contend against are subtle and well skilled in maneuvering; it behooves us to
be on the alert to concentrate our energies, and that the best feelings should
exist in our midst; and then, by the help of the Almighty, we shall go on from
victory to victory, and from conquest to conquest; and our evil passions will
be subdued, our prejudices depart; we shall find no room in our bosoms for
hatred; vice will hide its deformed head, and we shall stand approved in the
sight of Heaven, and be acknowledged the sons of God.
Let us realize that we are not to live to ourselves, but to
God; by so doing the greatest blessings will rest upon us both in time and in
eternity.
“Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the
end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue,
uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of
God.”
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| Maggy was the first to be screened with the equipment the church purchased for Rema Hospital. |
Sunset in Ruiygi, Burundi
