I am swimming 6km at the Bantham Swoosh and I am fundraising for Level Water (the event organiser) and Doctors Without Borders. I am doing this to remember Maria, to voice her story, and to seek justice.

I met Maria in 2006, during a fantastic Erasmus year in Paris. She had a permanent smile on her face and I will always remember her like that. After our Erasmus she decided to stay in Paris, where she found a job. But Maria was not the kind of person who can see injustice and suffering and go on with her life as if nothing was happening at the other end of the world. So a few years later she left her job and Paris and started a humanitarian career at Doctors Without Borders.

She coordinated projects in Yemen, Mexico, Nigeria, the Central African Republic and finally in Ethiopia. Her job was to make sure that everyone had access to healthcare, food and shelter, whatever the circumstances. She helped migrants and those injured by war.

On 24th June 2021, she went on a mission to open a new path to provide care to people who had been injured by the war in the Tigris region in Ethiopia. The next day, the car in which she and her colleagues were travelling was found in the middle of the road, along with their bodies.

For months, the circumstances of their death remained unclear. All we knew was that they were shot at short distance and that it was not cross-fire, but the intentional murder of three humanitarian workers. A few days ago, the press reported that it was a group of soldiers from Ethiopian National Defense Force who killed them. MSF continue seeking an investigation into the perpetrators and their motives, and the authorities' acknowledgement of responsibility.

Maria and I did not stay in contact much after our Erasmus. However, the circumstances of her death, the cruelty, and the lack of justice are extremely painful. So I can only imagine how heartbreaking this is for those who were closer to her - her family and her closest friends.

I have decided to speak up because she deserves it. She was an exceptional human being and she deserves to be remembered.

I will always keep you in my heart, Maria. You are my hero. Rest in peace.