Media Coverage

NEWS BRIEFS Nov-24-2008: Opus Prize awarded to woman who helps child victims of war in Burundi
Catholic News Service
November 24, 2008

SEATTLE (CNS) -- A Catholic woman who has provided a safe haven for child victims of ethnic strife in Burundi has received the $1 million Opus Prize, billed as the world's largest humanitarian award for social innovation. Marguerite "Maggy" Barankitse received the honor Nov. 18 from Jesuit-run Seattle University and the Opus Prize Foundation. She founded Maison Shalom in 1993 as a home for 25 children orphaned after a violent attack by ethnic Tutsis at the start of a 12-year civil war. Barankitse's organization has grown into a multiservice agency which runs 500 small houses where children are nurtured and supported so they can be reintegrated into loving families. Maison Shalom also recently opened a hospital. Seattle University and the foundation also announced two winners of $100,000 prizes: Michael Woodard, founder of Jubilee House Community and Center for the Development of Central America, and Krishnammal Jagannathan, founder of Land for Tillers' Freedom.