Kibeho, the Holy Land Mom didn’t know anything about Rwanda. Luanda, Rwanda no idea but she did know that there was a place in East Africa, where three young girls had apparitions. The first time, the Virgin Mary had come down in Africa. Well that story is in Rwanda. She couldn’t believe it. The travel schedule should be switched around and we have to reach the Holy Land.  We were in for a very long drive to Kibeho. We drove through Butare had lunch there and saw the University of Rwanda. We arrived in Kibeho at night time. The place had something Godly. The views of Rwanda never tire me but here the sky was touching the Earth. The holy land looks like the landscape of the holy land in Israel. We arrived at the church of our Virgin Mary, she appeared there in the name of Lady Verbe, mother of the earth. We went inside the church and for me it’s also the first time I have seen a church dedicated only to the mother Mary. It’s peaceful. I have read about the fact that people should pray to the mother Mary, the rosary as it is the truth. I am not a religious person like my mom who takes every word in the Bible literally. We found the place where the apparitions took place in the 1880’s and we found one of the Pallotine brothers. He suggested we sleep in their guest rooms. At a price off course. We went to our rooms. Our driver, Richard is also Catholic and it was his first time in Kibeho. We were family now. Mom requested a private mess. A friendly pastor arrived and my mom wrote the mass intention. I had to be the acolyte. I felt like I was in elementary school again where I was the acolyte of the priest together with my twin-brother at a Catholic Church in Belgium. Here I was reading the forcefully the Bible out loud. Anything to please mom in the Holy Land. I have to keep my thoughts to myself. The Pallotine fathers catered us a heavy meal after the private mass. The pastor was quite funny. My mom had asked for spicy oil and he insisted on serving her the spice oil. Himself he didn’t eat spicy so he poured a bottle in her food. She was on fire. I couldn’t stop laughing. The pastor had done this and she should accept. Lol After dinner we planned to watch the movie of the apparitions. The first apparition happened to Alphonsine. She was in a all girl school and the Virgin Mary had come to reveal herself to her. No one believed her but the apparitions continued. In this area witchcraft was common so they believed she was talking sorcery. Alphonsine had asked the Virgin Mary to reveal herself to others. The Virgin Mary revealed herself to a second girl. This girl began speaking about an apparition. No one believed Alphonsine and asked her to reveal herself to another girl. So the Virgin Mary appeared to Nathalie. The entire world had to begin believing this story. Neurologists, psychiatrist and other doctors travelled to examine the situation at Kibeho. Many tests were ran and the apparitions became public. Everyone could watch. Sometimes the Virgin Mary could speak for 8 hours and the girls wouldn’t blink an eye. There is a case where Nathalie didn’t eat for 8 days or drink. When the Virgin told her to eat or drink she would eat a piece of holy bread. The events couldn’t be explained scientifically and after years of sticking needles into the girls during apparitions, Kibeho was declared a Holy site. The girls were telling the truth. Other children had now also come out telling apparition stories but these were proven false. The first three girls were telling the truth. Alphonsine lives in a sisters convenant in Italy now. She is a nun, Nathalie still lives in Kibeho. She is not a nun, she is neutral nothing. She was requested by the Virgin Mary to remain her entire live in Kibeho to serve. The second girl was murdered during genocide. In early 1980’s the virgin Mary had revealed bloody rivers in Rwanda. A sign that genocide was coming. The virgin said Rwandans should become devout Christians/ Catholics accept Mary or bad things would happen. Ten years later the genocide happened. The girls predicted this. Each girl had a different mission. 1 girl was here to preach conversion. Another girl was here to show the dimensions of the church and where it should be build. The third girl was send to show the face of Maria. With a graphic team, she described the face of Maria. It took years to draw the exact face she had seen. To teach the 7 sorrow rosary was also part of the mission. My mom had fallen asleep throughout the movie. Lol So now I had to tell her everything. Mom has typical Nigerian culture meaning they expect people to do whatever she says. She wanted to see Nathalie, the girl who had the apparition and was now an old woman. Nathalie is on a tight schedule so you can’t just demand. My mom didn’t agree. We went to the church which is open 24 hours. Ladies were sleeping on the floor and singing. I eventually also fell asleep on the church floor. It was nice, enjoying while the ladies were singing. Finally I woke up and went to the room after enjoying the stars. The next morning we received a wonderful breakfast. Our driver had gone to the mess in Kinyarwanda while mom and I were sleeping. Now it was time to visit the Holy site. One of the Brothers lead us around. My mom went back to the church and I found Nathalie. Nathalie didn’t speak English so I had to translate the French for my mom. My mom wanted her to tell her the apparition details. Nathalie said we should buy the book. She asked whether we watched the movie. She was on a schedule. My mom made me write a mass intention in French and Nathalie was going to pray for us. We went to the souvenir shop and bought a lot of useless stuff. I only got the 7 sorrows rosary as a reminder of our journey. We went to the water source on the Holy Land. This source was discovered by the Virgin Mary through Nathalie. The water is Holy and we had to bathe in it. From the source we walked to the Holy Land Church. On the church walls, there are bricks that had a difficult colour. These were the holes made by the genociders. They threw the grenades inside the Church of the Holy Land and killed everybody. No one was safe during genocide not even on the Holy Land. After 1,5 day in the Holy Land it was time for me to go! I had received enough religion for 10 years but mom was happy. She loves her Lord.

#gorilla climbing #rwanda #volcanoesnationalpark