When I first visited her town in Burundi in 2009 – astounded by the 20-year story of community-based hope on top of a killing field – I  thought, “Maggy Barankitse is the John Perkins of East Africa.”  Maggy has been part of our African Great Lakes Initiative since then, and this week Duke University announced that Maggy will receive an honorary degree at the May 12 commencement.  Maggy will share the platform with graduation speaker Melinda Gates (a Duke graduate) and renowned public intellectual Henry Louis Gates, also receiving an honorary degree.  Enduring a horrible personal experience of ethnic killing in Burundi in 1993, Maggy established Maison Shalom, which serves over 30,000 young people and families suffering from the aftermath of twelve years of civil war between Tutsis and Hutus.  We rejoice in the major platform this honor gives Maggy to share her remarkable vision of hope.  Maggy was with us last month at the 7^th annual African Great Lakes Leadership Institute, where she taught a plenary and joined in worship and community.  I have goose bumps thinking about Maggy sharing the stage with Melinda Gates before the May 12 crowd in Duke’s football stadium.

See also:

• “Love Made Me An Inventor” video and story on Maggy from Faith & Leadership
• See the chapter on Maggy and Maison Shalom in The Sacrifice of Africa by Emmanuel Katongole

Photos:  Maggy, Melinda, Gates