Love Made Me an Inventor: The Story of Maggy Barankitse - Humanitarian, Genocide Survivor, Citizen without Borders

by David Toole, Emmanuel Katongole (foreword)

On October 25, 1993, Maggy Barankitse buried seventy-two bodies in a mass grave, a day after she was stripped naked, beaten, and tied to a chair―and witnessed the people she was now burying being murdered in a fit of ethnic violence.
This first English language biography recounts the extraordinary journey of Marguerite "Maggy" Barankitse, the "Angel of Burundi," a global humanitarian activist and founder of Maison Shalom. Initially her organization provided care for tens of thousands of orphans devastated by the ravages of war and ethnic violence in Burundi. However, after narrowly escaping an assassination attempt in 2015, Maggy's work shifted to supporting Burundian refugees in Rwanda through education, healthcare, and community services.

216 pages, Paperback

Published May 30, 2025

About the author

David Toole is an American scholar and writer whose work explores the intersections of ethics, theology, and global health. Educated at the University of Montana and Duke University, where he earned a doctorate in theology and ethics, he has combined academic research with extensive field engagement in East and Central Africa. His work has focused on leadership in health systems, reconciliation in postconflict societies, and the ethical foundations of humanitarian action. Toole has taught widely on ethics, global health, and environmental policy, directed undergraduate programs, and written books that blend theology, history, and lived experience, with a particular interest in questions of human purpose and moral responsibility.

Reviews

[Emma Malinowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

A riveting telling of the story of the life of Maggy Barankitse, a true saint in waiting. The writer continuously reminds us that he did not mean to write this book, but was called to put Maggy’s story in writing. Enduring the horrors of genocide, exile from her country, and many attempts on her life, Maggy relies solely on God to guide her life and find light in the darkness. Her work for orphans in Burundi and beyond highlights the immense love she has for all people, even those who attempted to destroy her. David’s telling of this story attempts to order the story of a narrator whose life has become a scattered collection of moments within time. Attempting to chronologically place these moments proved quite difficult for him, but the story was riveting enough to look past the shifting between time.