Marie Claire Gegera: The Woman Who Forgave Her Mother's Killer and Is Now Helping Her People

Maria Claire Gegera, originally from Burundi, saw with her own eyes, as a 9-year-old girl, the ruthless murderer of her mother, whom she found, mortally wounded, 13 years later, while volunteering in a refugee camp. She was by his side during his last days, listening to his confession. She was determined not to waste her life in hatred, but to start over, freeing herself from the thirst for revenge. And she was rewarded, because today Maria Claire lives peacefully in Genoa, Italy, full of passion for her dual profession as a nurse and the founder of a very active association. “Charity in movement",  committed to supporting widowed mothers and their children in Burundi, first and foremost by ensuring the care and education of the children.

Marie Claire's family was torn apart by the civil war in Burundi, one of the poorest nations in the world, which broke out in October 1993 with an interminable clash between the two ethnic groups, the Hutus and the Tutsis, and ended, with a very precarious peace, only in 2006, a full thirteen years later.

 Marie Claire was just two years old when her father, a university professor and diplomat, was murdered in Bujumburra, Burundi's economic capital. Seven years later, Marie Claire's mother was killed as she entered church to attend Mass (Burundi's majority population is Christian). These are the last words of the woman who dies in Marie Claire's arms.

At 9 years old, Marie Claire was an orphan and deported to Rwanda, where she was effectively reduced to the role of slave to a powerful family in the country. But it was her faith that saved her: by attending the church in the town where she lived, Marie Claire was protected and helped out of poverty. In exchange, she taught catechism and sacred dance to the children of the parish where, now an adult, she had essentially allowed herself to be adopted. At 22, Marie Claire founded the non-profit organization "La Carità in Movimento" (Charity in Movement) and became the leader of a group of volunteers who expanded their projects for poor families in Burundi. Such projects include the "Cow Project," which involves the donation of a cow that can provide milk for home consumption and sale, thus helping both feed the children and support the family financially. Whoever receives the cow commits to: give the community the first calf born from the animal. This aspect is central: connect individual development collective aid, creating a chain of solidarity in which each family helps another.