Her kids were murdered. Raising orphans saved her life

Rubona, Rwanda — As a cacophony of birdsong greets the rising sun, Mama Marie Goretti Amurere corrals her daughters from their beds and out the door of their single-story home.

By 6am, Goretti, 60, walks the path from her house to the canteen, flanked by her girls and a lush perimeter of banana trees extending to a horizon of hills.

Inside the cafeteria, she pours rounds of igikoma, a millet porridge, into small plastic cups; it’s eaten with fluffy white bread rolls that pass along the communal table. As her bleary-eyed teenagers eat their breakfast, Goretti watches the clock. School starts at 7 a.m. and it’s a ten-minute walk up the hill.