Kibeho: Tourist attraction and place of pilgrimage

Kibeho a small village in Nyaruguru District-Rwanda, is known as a place of apparition where the Virgin Mary appeared. She is said to have appeared to three girls Alphonsine Mumureke, a nun in France, Marie Claire Mukangango, who was killed in the 1994 genocide, and Nathalie Mukamazimpaka, who stays at the Kibeho Shrine.

Setting off
Time check: 6pm. With pilgrims from other churches, we set off from Rubaga Cathedral. Our destination is Our Lady of Kibeho Shrine in Rwanda. The road seems smooth as we manoeuvre the Kampala-Masaka Highway. The green scenery disappears into the dark as we make several stopovers to pray and take a break. We proceed to Kabale Road and through the window, our bus snakes through a hilly terrain. We arrive at the Katuna border post at 4am. The cold pierces my skin but does not blind me from the vibrant trading centre activities. Meanwhile most of us have donned our warm clothing just like the handful money changers lurking about. I rush and grab myself a cup of coffee before joining the queue the at immigration counters. The clearing process seems to take a bit of time. Armed with a passport and a national ID card makes the process quick unlike those without such documents who have to part with Shs10,000 for a temporary border pass. Unfortunately, I’m among the latter. I’m asked to step aside as I search my bag for my national ID card. I hit a dead end. Almost breaking into tears I imagine my pilgrimage ending at the border. I mumble every prayer and I calm down. I unzip my purse for Shs10, 000 and boom I was back on track in 30 minutes. However, we had to leave all the plastic bags at that point.

Off to Rwanda
At 7am, we head for land of the 1,000 hills. After an hour-and-a half of navigating spectacular hills we arrive in Kigali. We take a stroll in the city as we wait for other pilgrims who have travelled by air. I learn that women are called “abakoobwa” in Kinyarwanda.
Off we take Butare - Matyazo route, which is 162km to Our Lady of Kibeho Shrine. Arriving at around 4pm, we check into Centre D’ Accueil Notre Dame, a hotel in Kibeho next to the shrine where we are to stay for the next two days.
At the Apparition site
At 6pm, we head for the apparition site in front of the sanctuary where we meet Ssemakula, one of the tour guides that tells us a brief history of Kibeho.
“Before the apparition of the Virgin Mary Kibeho was a high school but on November 28, 1981 people started telling stories of Mary’s continuous visitations to three girls Mumureke, Mukangango and Mukamazimpaka. With the message “Nyina wa Jambo” meaning mother of the Word. Where the chapel stands today was the students’ dormitory and one of the three apparition sites,” says Ssemakula.

Prayer time
He leads us to pray. He first explains to us about how one must first recite the 15 mysteries of the rosary before fetching water from the Mother Mary Spring. This is at the foot of the hill on which the church stands. Right here, a sudden heavy downpour does not spare us but we persist to the end.
Ssemakula says every time people come for prayers, it rains which is said to be a sign of blessings. Meanwhile after prayers, we join a queue of other faithful to fetch water from the Virgin Mary Spring which trickles into a brownish pond. Most people carry jerrycans, and bottles for that purpose. With my five-litre jerrycan I could not be left out. We go for night prayers and return to our hotel.
After breakfast, we have mass in the church and proceed for the Way of the Cross and later sightseeing. We walk past the chapel opposite at which pilgrims stop to buy mementos in form of rosaries, madonnas and and T-shirts marked “I am the Mother of the Word”. Then, we get to the old parish church, which is one of the genocide memorial sites.

Despite the many killings that took place in this old church, which is a few metres from the apparition sites, the parishioners still use the church as a regular place of worship. Ssemakula says in April 1994, hundreds of people who had taken refuge in this church were massacred behind the altar. “That is why that part is sealed off and they painted some parts of the wall where the bullets passed,” he says

No offertory
To my surprise or disappointment during mass at offertory time no collections are made especially if mass is attended by Rwandans. Ssemakula says the only offertory received by the church is from foreigners. “This is because people lost relatives therein and feel betrayed by the church.”
“After the genocide, the Catholic Church lost ground in Rwanda. On November 21, the Rwandan Catholic church asked for forgiveness for all Christians involved in the genocide,” he adds.
I take a walk around the church, feel downcast because of the sad tales. It is a refreshing experience.

Miracles
Kibeho became officially a ‘Holy Land’ and a place of pilgrimage in 2001 after the Roman Catholic Church had declared the apparitions. That is why pilgrims travel to Kibeho to implore God’s mercy, seek His protection or pray for solutions to thank God and the Virgin Mary for their lives.