Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

Our Lady of Kibeho: Mary Speaks to the World from the Heart of Africa by Immaculee Ilibagiza is an easy read, but it is not an easy story to read. It is told in first person by Immaculee in readily accessible language. Reading it is as though she is sitting beside you telling you her story, her story of growing up in Rwanda, her story of faith, courage, and resilience. While clearly being a book about the Catholic faith, it is not “preachy” or sanctimonious.

Some of you know that I am writing a book about the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary where Mary appeared to children or young adults, my target audience being middle school students who wish to learn more about these miraculous events. Among the apparition sites I am researching and writing about are Lourdes, Fatima, two sites in Belgium, as well as others less well-known.

I did not know anything about Kibeho when I began my research. Immaculee’s book was given to me quite a long time ago by a very good friend, but I didn’t read it as I had decided it would be too painful to read. It is 100% not at all what I thought, and today, I am very glad that I have read it, not only for its research value to my writing project, but also because how inspirational this book is.

Immaculee’s book is a retelling of the events that took place in a small town called Kibeho, located in the southern part of Rwanda, a country located in East Africa. Immaculee herself was from Mataba, also in the southern part of Rwanda, which in Immaculee’s youth would have been considerably farther than the 3-1/2 hour drive it is today.

This book details the events that occurred 14 years prior to the Rwandan Genocide, when the Blessed Virgin Mary first began appearing to three young women who were students at an all-girls Catholic boarding school in Kibeho, Rwanda. The author of this book, Immaculee Ilibagiza, survived the genocide because a priest gave refuge to her and 8 other women, hiding them for more than 90 days, in a 3×4 bathroom that went undetected by those ravaging her village, murdering her own family and almost everyone she had ever known. This is the part of the story that I was afraid to read about.

The apparitions of Mary that began on November 28, 1981, and ended exactly 8 years later on November 28, 1989, to the original three young women Alphonsine, Anathalie, and Marie-Claire were formally approved by the Catholic Church on June 29, 2001. Immaculee also writes about the five others who also claimed to have received visits from Mary, but ultimately those apparitions were not approved by the Church for various reasons.

Our Lady of Kibeho is important because it is the only Church-approved apparition of Mary on the continent of Africa, as well as the fact that Mary’s messages to the three girls foreshadowed the horrific events of April 6th through July 19th of 1994, when an estimated 1 million people were killed.

As I noted earlier, this is a book of faith, courage, and resilience, and the reader comes away with admiration and respect for Immaculee in the way that she has chosen to deal with the horrors and the blessings she has experienced. She now travels the world speaking about her life and her faith. I hope to have the opportunity to hear her speak one day.

Our Lady of Kibeho, pray for us.