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 Maggy  BARANKITSE  speech  for  MMM  Intervention  at  the  UNESCO  Forum  for  Peace  

Mexico,  3rd-­‐4th  November  2016    Allow  me  to  thank  the  government  of  Mexico,  the  UNESCO  and  the  NGO  Liaison  Committee  for  the  organisation  of  this  forum  and  to  give  me  the  opportunity  of  speaking  in  the  name  of  MAKE  MOTHERS  MATTER  about  the  role  of  mothers  in  conflict  resolution  and  education  to  peace.        I   will   now   deliver   the   message   written   to   your   intention   by   Maggie   BARANKITSE,   “the  Burundi  angel”.  She  was  able  to  save  and  take  in  charge  over  twenty  thousand  children  of  all  ethnical   groups,   victims   of   the  wars,   thanks   to   her   networks   in   Burundi   and  Rwanda.   She  received  many  prizes  such  as  the  greatest  award  from  the  Office  of  the  High  Commissioner  for  Refugees  in  2005,  and  more  recently  in  2016,  the  Aurora  Prize  for  Awakening  Humanity.      

     MAGGY’S  SPEECH    I   thank   the   NGO   Make   Mothers   Matter   to   have   invited   me   to   speak   and   to   be   my  spokesperson.   I  am  honoured  to  address  this   important  gathering  about  an   issue,  which   is  very  dear  to  my  heart.      Becoming  a  mother  implies  all  at  once,  pain,  joy  and  a  mission.  It  is  a  joy  to  expand  this  great  human   family,  when  one   thinks  of   these  privileged  moments  where  a   child’s   smile   simply  makes  you  want  to  laugh,  with  no  reason.  Motherhood  is  a  mission  weaved  with  years  of  toil  and  on-­‐going  studies  at  the  school  of   life.  This   is  perhaps  why  mothers  should  be  called  to  serve  beyond  the  immediate  environment  of  their  families.      The  reason  is  simple.  If  we  want  a  world  with  more  love,  tolerance,  perseverance  for  peace  and  the  resolution  of  conflicts,  a  world  where  women  would  represent  50%  of  the  executive,  judicial  and  parliamentary  instances,  50%  of  women  at  the  United  Nations  and  at  the  African  Union…  then  mothers  are  best  placed  to  reach  these  objectives.  Indeed,  their  lives  provide  mothers  with  the  best  Curriculum  Vitae:    Their   children   are   the   hardest   government   to   contend   with.   Their   families   are   the   most  difficult   people   to   convince,   to   negotiate  with,   that   they  will   always   have   to   compromise  with.  Always!  It  is  inherent  to  our  nature  as  women  and  to  our  mission  as  mothers.    

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I  want  to  give  a  call  at  this  Forum:  if  we  want  to  build  a  new  peace-­‐loving  generation  capable  of  renunciation  in  this  world  of  conflicts,  the  role  of  mothers  is  vital.    My  friends,   I  am  entitled  to  giving  this  call  because   I  have  myself  experienced  this  mother  role,  able  to  give  rise  to  a  new  generation  by  passing  on  what  mothers  hold  in  their  deepest  selves,  like  compassion,  love,  forgiveness  and  resilience.      My  life  story  makes  me  understand  that  love  is  victorious,  that  love  will  always  be  so.      Indeed,   it   is   on   this   24th   October   that   hell   began   in   Burundi;   the   Tutsis   entered   in   the  episcopal  residence  armed  with  machetes,  bamboo  weapons,  stones,  and  clubs…    I   just  had   the   time   to  hide   the  children   I  was   teaching   in   the  closets  of   the   sacristy  whilst  ordering  them  to  stay  completely  silent,  whatever  they  could  see  or  hear.    I  saw  the  Tutsis  arriving,  and  I  recognized  a  member  of  my  family.  I  told  my  Hutu  colleagues  to  go  and  hide.   I  went  up   to   the  Tutsis   and   said:   “do  not  act   like  Cain  who  killed  his  own  brother  Abel”.  They  did  not  listen,  I  was  tied  up  and  they  doused  the  room  with  petrol  and  set   it   alight.   I  watched   them  slaughter  72  adults.   The  Tutsi   assailants   spared  my   life,  even  though  some  of  them  wanted  to  kill  me  because  I  had  managed  to  save  the  children  of  the  enemy  ethnic  group.  Others  did  not  dare  to  kill  me  because  I  was  “their  sister”.    The  children  were  saved  in  exchange  of  goods  and  money.    Among  the  adults,  were  the  parents  of  Lydia  and  Lysette  aged  1  and  3  who  watched  their  Hutu   father   and   their   Tutsi  mother,   a   great   friend  of  mine,   being   slaughtered.  Before   she  was  beheaded,  Juliette  looked  at  me  straight  in  the  eyes  and  said:  “you  are  going  to  bring  up  my  children,  I  am  following  my  husband”.      When  I  looked  at  Juliette  and  at  her  two  children,  at  that  very  moment,  I  thought:  I  must  try  and  turn  the  page,  which  is  hurting  so  much,  get  rid  of  that  hatred…    I  can  assure  you  that  it  was  not  easy  but  today,  I  can  claim  that  love  really  triumphed.  I  left  with  the  25  surviving  children  and  went  to  a  German  friend  of  mine  doing  voluntary  service,  who  lived  a  few  miles  away.    I  managed  to  cater  their  needs  by  collecting  food  in  the  family  estate,   thanks   to   local   and   international   aids,   thanks   to   institutions  and   friends   that   I  met  when  I  came  to  Europe.      The   crisis   lingered   on   all   over   the   country   and   particularly   in   Ruyigi.   Famished,   sick,  wounded,   raped   children,  orphaned  and  without   any  assistance,   flocked   from  all   over   the  province,   the   country   and   then   from   Rwanda   in   1994.   It   is   love   that   created   the  Maison  Shalom.  I  could  have  given  up  everything,  thinking  I  had  lost  everything.    But  the  love,  which  my  own  mother  had  passed  on  to  me,  enabled  me  to  pass  on  the  light,  like  she  used  to  do.  That   is  what  a  mother   is,   this   is  what  the  world  needs:  to  pass  on  the  light  to  those  who  are  still  in  the  shadows.      Therefore,   another   very   important   example,   awakening   us   to   the   role   of   mothers,   is   the  drama  of  the  1994  genocide  in  Rwanda.  Despite  rapes,  fear,  immigration  in  the  neighbouring  countries,  who  stayed  on?  The  women.    It   is   the  women  who  very  slowly   took  up  work  again  and   the  mission  of  hope.  And  today,  Rwanda   represents   some   of   that   hope:   mothers   represent   60%   of   the   members   of  Parliament,  mothers  at  high  level!    Having  mothers  at  the  high  level  also  means  keeping  the  memory  of   the  past  and  ensuring  the   future.  We  are  the   link  maintaining  “yesterday”  and  “tomorrow”.  

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It   is   important   to  measure   development   and   progress   in   all   fields:   social,   economical   and  political,  through  the  percentage  of  mothers  contributing  to  the  effort  of  reconstruction  and  peace  building.  This  is  particularly  true  as  regards  the  example  of  post  conflict  countries.  This  often  is  overlooked.      Mothers   give   life   to   ALL   the   actors   in   every   country,  whether   they   are   politicians,   rebels,  refugees  or  Presidents.  Mothers  are  the  ones  who  celebrate  all  these  men,  who  wipe  away  their  tears,  give  them  advice  and  burry  them.      Every   Nation,   and   the   United   Nations   even   more   so,   must   associate   mothers   in   the  implementation   of   reconstruction   policies   in   order   to   make   them   more   sustainable,   and  more  closely  linked  to  the  daily  realities  of  each  nation.      I   am   sure   you   will   understand   that   I   praise   and   support   the   initiatives   of  Make  Mothers  Matter,  and  its  relentless  work  for  mothers.  Only  mothers  can  love  those  who  kill,  understand  that  the  murderer  is  the  first  victim  of  his  gesture  and  allow  him  to  reconcile  with  his  conscience,  and  so  not  pretend  to  be.      My  support  to  Make  Mothers  Matter  will  help  to  think  about  other  mothers  throughout  the  world.  These  mothers,  who  like  in  Rwanda  in  1994,  are  abandoned,  abused,  the  Burundian  mothers  who  in  the  refugee  camps  just  now,  are  crying  the  loss  of  a  husband,  of  a  child,  who  are  burying  a  friend.    These  same  mothers  are  fleeing;  they  are  dying  as  they  give  their  last  drops  of  milk  to  a  child  starved  by  civil  war,  a  crisis  like  in  Burundi  right  now.  Please  think  of  them.      Being  a  mother  means  suffering  for  your  dear  ones,  and  mainly  suffering  a  lot  for  others.      Thank  you.