Rwanda: Kibeho - a place of healing and reconciliation after the Civil War

Statue of Our Lady of Kibeho. @ACN
Statue of Our Lady of Kibeho. @ACN

"God is rich in grace", says Pallottine Sister Marta Litawa. It is a phrase that might fall easily from the lips of someone living in material comfort in the Western world. But Sister Marta lives in Rwanda, where the murderous civil war in the 1990s between Hutu and Tutsi claimed somewhere in the region of 800,000 human lives and left a trail of misery, trauma and sickness in its wake.

The small village of Kibeho lies in a remote region in the mountainous southeast of Rwanda, around 20 miles (30 km) away from Gikongoro and Butare. It was here, between 1981 and 1989, that three young African girls, Alphonsine Mumereke, Nathalie Mukamazimpaka and Claire Mukangango, saw and heard the Mother of God, who called the people to conversion, penance and prayer. During one of the apparitions, the seers saw in advance something of the suffering that was to befall Rwanda in the coming years. More recently, an internment camp was established in Kibeho for soldiers who had fled to the Congo after the genocide and among whom – it was alleged – were many who had actively participated in the killing. Then in 1995 there was an attempt by the so-called Génocidaires to break out by force from the camp, as a result of which hundreds and perhaps even thousands of the camp internees were killed. On this spot, since the end of the war and in light of Our Lady's apparitions here, Kibeho has become a place of conversion, reconciliation and prayer.

Already in 1988 the shrine of Our Lady of Kibeho was officially recognised by Bishop Jean Baptiste Gahamanyi, and in 2003 it was formally consecrated. Since then Kibeho has become the Lourdes of Africa and a magnet for pilgrims from all over the world, with up to 30,000 people arriving daily, around the major feast days. A handful of Europeans and Americans are to be seen among them, but 95% of the pilgrims are from the African continent itself. For the people of Kibeho, most of whom live in conditions of near-destitution, the shrine is a source of great comfort and blessing. "It is the poorest region in the diocese, and indeed in the whole country", says Father Pawlowski, the director of the shrine. "The people are traumatised, poor and hungry. There is a lack of even the most basic infrastructure, such as roads, access to clean water, telephone, electricity."

In order to be able to cope with this great throng of pilgrims – and with the help of ACN, the diocese built a pilgrim centre here in 2003. The benefactors of ACN gave the money for solar panels, electric wiring and sanitary facilities in the building and for the establishment of a campsite nearby. Today the Pallottine Sisters work together with the Pallottine Fathers, ministering to the pilgrims, running the library and the archive centre, the bookshop and the repository, and also organising retreats for priests, religious and laity.

For decades now the benefactors of ACN have been supporting the work of the many religious sisters in Rwanda. Without the commitment of the Pallottine Sisters in Kibeho it would be impossible to maintain the pilgrim centre and the campsite here at the shrine, where thousands of traumatised people continue to experience the grace of conversion and healing.

To know about this and many other similar projects in favour of the pastoral needs of the suffering Church, please contact our national offices.