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

by David Toole, Emmanuel Katongole (foreword)

⋆⋅Catholic Media Association Book Award Winner, Life and Dignity Of The Human Person⋅⋆

⋆⋅Catholic Media Association Book Award Winner, Biography⋅⋆
Foreword by Emmanuel Katongole

On October 25, 1993, Maggy Barankitse buried seventy-two bodies in a mass grave on the grounds of the bishop’s house in Burundi, a day after she was made to watch as they were murdered in a fit of ethnic violence. What happened next would save tens of thousands of children from death and despair during a protracted civil war

Love Made Me an Inventor is how Marguerite (Maggy) Barankitse describes how she has been able to accomplish her life-saving work. In this first-ever authorized biography in English, readers will encounter her extraordinary journey from survivor to founder of Maison Shalom and the name “Angel of Burundi.”

For twenty-two years Maison Shalom provided care for mothers and children devastated by war and ethnic violence in Burundi. Then, after narrowly escaping an assassination attempt in 2015, Maggy’s work shifted to helping 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]

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.