Kibeho

Standing in front of the church built to
commemorate Our Lady of Kibeho

I realize this is a really late post and I've been promising to write about my experiences at Kibeho for the longest time. Lately, people keep reminding me that I'm breaking that promise, so I'm posting now. Sorry for the delay. : ) 
I guess I should begin by explaining the history of Kibeho. For those readers who aren’t Catholic, this might be an interesting glimpse into a big aspect of our faith: Marian apparitions. For those who are Catholic, maybe you’re more familiar with places like Lourdes or Fatima, although I bet most of you have at least heard of Kibeho.

Kibeho has a really amazing history and I was actually pretty familiar with Kibeho before ever considering coming to Rwanda, so that made visiting the site really special for me. The site is important to the Rwandese and they have a very strong devotion to Our Lady of Kibeho. This was actually my first ever pilgrimage. 

So that I’m not accused of plagiarism, I’ll just clarify upfront that I got the historical information from a booklet I bought at Kibeho titled “The Apparitions of Kibeho” and from the pamphlet  “Marial Santuary Our Lady of Kibeho.” If you want more information on citing these booklets, just send me a message.  

To begin, Kibeho was the site of a series of Marian apparitions that occurred starting on November 28, 1981 and ending on November 28, 1989. Mary first appeared to a student named Alphonsine Mumureke. At first, Alphonsine was not taken seriously. Some of her classmates made fun of her, others thought she was mentally ill or involved with witchcraft. Most just thought she was lying or attempting to get attention. Some students would tell her that if it was really the Virgin Mary, she would need to appear to other students before they would believe Alphonsine. Alphonsine was not a strong Catholic before the visions, so students could not believe that the Virgin would appear to her. 

One of Alphonsine’s biggest tormentors was a classmate named Marie Claire Mukangango. She was not in Alphonsine’s grade and did not know her well, but was a strong critic and often made fun of Alphonsine. On March 2, 1982, the Virgin Mary appeared to Marie Claire. This was a big shock to the community. 

Most of the teachers and students had been very embarrassed or upset by what they viewed as Alphonsine’s lies, but started to change their minds when Marie Claire began also having visions. For the first time, some students and teachers began to believe the visions were real. After all, Marie Claire was formerly a strong critic of Alphonsine. 

The priest who cares for the site

The third and final visionary was Nathalie Mukamazimpaka, who I actually met at Kibeho. 

Around seven months after the visions began more individuals claimed to be having visions, but after examination they were proven false. At one point, 33 people claimed to be visionaries! Still, the only three found credible were the first three. Amazingly, the only girls from the entire girls' school who claimed to see visions were Alphonsine, Marie Claire, and Nathalie. The other supposed visionaries were not even students at the school. 

The bishop of Butare assigned two commissions to examine the visionaries: a medical commission that was comprised entirely of non-Catholics and a theological commission. The medical commission was made up of doctors and psychologists. They examined the visionaries and did medical testing while the girls had visions. Some of these tests included pricking the girls' eyes with needles or placing their hands over burning candles to see if the girls flinched. I got to see some videos of the doctors doing the tests and it was very interesting, although made me cringe. I was amazed to see the visionaries didn’t even notice their eyes being pricked!  

I was also interested when watching the interview with the neurologist. He pointed out that photographers always came whenever a girl was going to have a vision (the visions were usually at the same time on the same days). Immediately before a girl began her vision, she would be blinking rapidly at the flashes of cameras. Once she entered the vision, however, her eyes no longer blinked from camera flashes. 

Both committees found the three girls credible. The girls were found to have good mental health, a pious and sincere attitude toward the visions, the absence of searching for attention and excitement, no contradictions between the message and the behaviors of the visionaries, the trances were not related to sickness or hysteria, and the visionaries used words that were beyond their culture, knowledge, or education when describing the visions. 

Smiling during the more-than-cozy
bus ride to Kibeho. Rows that should
have held three people fit five or six.

They also cited that the visions were prophetic because on August 15, 1982, Mary showed the visionaries images of the genocide as a warning that this would be a consequence of a world living far from God. This occurred more than 10 years before the beginning of the genocide. In proving the visions credible, the committees also cited miraculous fasting by Nathalie and that there were positive spiritual fruits gained by the messages.
The apparitions received official recognition on June 29, 2001. 

Here is a list of the series of messages to the three visionaries, who at the time were high school students:

The messages are: 1) an urgent call to repentance and conversion of hearts, 2) the world is at its worst and needs to change, 3) Mary’s deep sadness over the state of the world, 4) “Faith and unbelief will come unexpectedly,” 5) suffering is a useful way for Christians to achieve holiness and to participate in Jesus’ sorrows, 6) the need to pray constantly and without hypocrisy, 7) the need to pray the rosary regularly and sincerely, 8) the introduction of the Rosary of the Virgin Mary Sorrows, which she said does not replace the Holy Rosary, 9) the request of a chapel to be built on the site, 10) the need of constant prayers for the Church. 

As you can see, this site has a very rich history. Just a little about my experiences there. Lionel and I woke up early that morning and went to the 6:10 a.m. Mass. At Mass, we realized that the day was the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, one of the major feast days of Kibeho. We were really excited to be given that unexpected gift. We caught a small cramped bus around 7:30 and rode for a few hours until we reached Butare. From Butare we caught an even smaller and much more cramped bus for a couple more hours until we reached Kibeho. 

After finally reaching Kibeho, we walked up to the building where Mary first appeared. We actually ran into the priest in charge of the site and he allowed us to come into his office and told us a lot about Kibeho. He was so sweet and had actually met Lionel before so ended up giving us a personal tour of the place. 

He showed us these flowers which are actually one of the mysteries of Kibeho:

Do you see how some of the flowers are dead, some are alive, and some are dying? I hope I’m remembering this correctly, but I believe he said these same flowers have been like this since the visions first occurred. The same ones have been dead, the same have been alive, and the same have been dying even though they all receive the same amount of water and sun. Apparently they represent the faith of the world. Some people have an alive faith, others are losing their faith, and some have completely left God. 

After that, I actually met Nathalie. She was in one of the local shops and I got to speak to her briefly. She is a very serious, quiet woman, but kind. Lionel had met her once before and asked to take a picture with her but she politely refused. She said she doesn’t want to be the focus of what happened at Kibeho but wants people to focus on God and his gifts. I got the impression that she leads a very humble, quiet, prayerful life. 

Lionel and I then went inside the room where Our Lady first appeared. We got another unexpected gift, because on Thursdays there is Eucharistic adoration in the exact room where Mary first appeared. We didn’t know they had adoration on Thursdays, but it was perfect timing. Catholics believe the Eucharist is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ, so Lionel and I got to spend the afternoon with our Lord where his mother first appeared. It was an incredible spiritual experience and both of us brought lists of people who had asked us to pray for them. I think we spent a few hours in prayer but it was getting late and we didn’t have much time before the final bus left and we had a few more things to see. Neither of us wanted to leave and I’m really looking forward to going back this month. 

After we pulled ourselves away, we went to visit one more church. During the genocide, over 10,000 people were killed in that city and the surrounding region, including Marie Claire. In the wars before the genocide, churches were considered a sacred place and people found refuge there. However, during the genocide, churches were viciously attacked. 

                                                              

Thousands of people fled to hide inside this church: 

 Those purple spots are parts of the wall that were rebuilt and then colored purple. While
 people hid inside, the killers tore away those parts of the wall marked in purple in order to get 
inside to kill more people. Apparently, they couldn’t kill the innocent victims quickly enough
 by going through the front doors... 

It was extremely hard to stand there knowing so many had died on that spot less than 20 years before. I still feel sick thinking about it now. I think it was even harder knowing that the people inside had fled to the church for safety and then had the walls torn out around them. Strangely, as sad as it was, I still had peace. Even though terrible things had happened at that location, it’s still a place of hope. Hundreds of people pray there everyday and experience healing or conversion, so it serves as a reminder of the evils and good of humanity. 

It was getting late by this point and so Lionel and I had to practically run back to the bus. Our first ride was cramped but uneventful. It was very dark by the time we got on our second bus and actually we experienced something sort of funny to counteract our very serious day. 

About 20 minutes into the drive, one of the men on the bus began to sing loudly for the duration of the entire bus ride. It was a tiny bus and we couldn’t hear anything except him singing. Lionel and I kept laughing, especially because none of the Rwandese seemed to be bothered by this guy’s vocal performance. 

At one point during the 2 hour bus ride, he repeated a song and people started scoffing, so he changed to a new song and people were quiet again.

I can only imagine how passengers would have handled this in the U.S., but in Rwanda people are much more patient and accepting of each other. I can't help but think this has a lot to do with lessons learned from the genocide. There has been so much suffering and I think the Rwandese are just tired of hate. I am always so grateful to see them live out acceptance and love in their daily lives, even if a young man is singing loudly for two hours on a cramped bus.
The messages of Kibeho are a beacon of hope, so it's not surprising the people have a strong devotion to this site and Our Lady. All in all, my visit to Kibeho was an amazing experience and I’m really looking forward to visiting again soon.