Our Lady of Kibeho: Mary Speaks to the World from the Heart of Africa

How is it possible that something this important happens in our media-saturated world, and we don’t hear about it until 30 years after the fact??I DEFINITELY recommend this book to anyone. Great for teens, too.

I had read a book by Janice T. Connell a while ago titled, "Meetings With Mary". The book was a National Best-Seller.After recently engrossed by a few books about paranormal experiences, (including dealing with the demonic), I thought my soul could use a bit of comfort from our Blessed Mother Mary, as she is who I pray to on a daily basis, as well as the Mother I turn to during times in my discourse.So in search of a book of this nature, I was blessed when I found this book, written by an author whom I have the utmost respect for, Immaculee Ilibagiza, a native Tutsi Christian woman from Rwanda.I had previously read her remarkable book about the 3-4 month genocide which the Hutu tribe declared upon the Tutsi tribe--all Christian people. You can read of how the author survived the genocide/holocaust in her autobiography,"Left To Tell". It is a well written book about the history of a country mandating ethnic cleansing--intending to accomplish it in the most horrific of ways.But prior to this war's result, in the beginning to the end of the 1980's, Jesus had his Mother appear to less than a handful of school girls in a place called Kibeho, in Rwanda, Africa. Jesus sent her to 'appear for humanity', thus reappearing to these selected girls to believe in her and her love as their Mother and that she'd reappear at their school area at other times, hoping that it would call an audience of humanitarian togetherness in accordance of peace and love for her son Jesus Christ--thus praising the Father and avoiding violence.At first communication between these selected girls and our Blessed Mother were called upon as fakes so Mary did a test to show the community there that she really was connecting with them. Those children who did believe in Mary's apparitions gave the girl their rosaries to have them blessed...and those who did not believe in the apparitions put their rosaries on the ground with the believer's. Those who believed in the visions of Mary had their rosaries picked up by a girl and Mary blessed them. But those who did not believe had their rosaries stuck within the ground. Those non-believers turned into believers at that point.Mary would always let it be known when she'd be appearing so that the believers would come to witness (not her figure...but her connection with a selected child) any miracles or messages. People would trekk to Kibeho for over a decade to see Mary's miracles,(including the author). Then one day Mary came but the young girls were not told to Bless those who were there but rather, Mary gave them horrific visions of massive rivers of blood flooding throughout the country. The girls receiving the messages could barely handle what they were seeing as Mary had been connecting with them as their Mother in figure, and would never send them such terrifying sights as they witnessed. This, Mary explained is what would be the affect if fighting would not stop between two tribes. The worst imaginable would occur if they would not come together to unify. Years after, in the spring of 1994, close to one million Tutsis were massacred by the Hutu people for 'ethnic cleansing' and it resulted in human carnage as we know of it today. The massacre ended after 4 months, but the results are still brought to light to myself and others, by human rights groups alerts, of which I belong to. Because the country is war-torn, 3rd world and is a problem to this day of refugee displacement, the ghosts of the genocide still remain.Immaculee Ilibagiza told this story well because she was born a Tutsi and had to hide in her own inhumane way (as she tells in "Left to Tell").I see also that this author has written two other books and I am anxious to read them as one of the other has to do with apparitions of Jesus and his Mother. I will certainly read those books as this book was a real joy (even though the inevitable occurred). The context of war which I explained was minimal in this book but I wanted any reader who did not know of it to know about it in her other book.There is a shrine of Mary "Jesus' Mother For Humanity and for being the Blessed Mother of Africa" because of all her apparitions and messages.It is an important part of Rwanda's history.I recommend this book due to the pen of this writer's hand, as well as the comfort I felt in communion with Mary for the many blessings and messages she gave the people in Kibeho, Rwanda Africa.

If you want to learn more about Mary and Jesus and all the incredible work they’re still doing here on Earth this book is a must read. Not only did it restore my faith, trust and confidence in God, Jesus and Mary but it has truly converted my heart to so many blessings and truths. Thank you Immaculee! Even if you’re not “religious” this book is so important for everyone

I liked this book and the other books by Immaculee Ilibagiza. My only apprehension to give it 5 stars is because she keeps referring to St. Mary as the 'queen of heaven'. I don't know how well the author is familiar with the Bible, but in the Old Testament in the book of Jeremiah chapter 7:18, there is reference to idol worship of a queen of heaven and God specifically warn the Isrealites not to worship her. There are many reports of St. Mary's apparitions all over the world, I do believe that her spirit rule over our world because of the colors that she is always seen wearing, blue and white, when we see photos of the earth out in space is blue and white. There are too many mysteries in our world and it's comforting to know that we can have a being from the spirit world to guide us and worn us about what we need to do in order to have better lives. I enjoy the book made me appreciate St. Mary and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ more. They teach us that to live in this world we daily have to be conscious of our choices. In our human form both live the evil and the good and we are here to learn to choose to live good and righteous lives in order to live in heaven when the the comes to leave this world.

For those of us who want to delve more into Marian apparitions, this book provides us with an opportunity to learn more about what happened in Kibeho. This book is simply written and flows very well while keeping you captivated. It suppliments the movie "If only we had listened" and lets us in on more details. At our church, we have a priest who originated from this area and he witnessed many of the events that happened there. I am truely blessed to have such an association with him and his story compelled me to investigate further into the messages that the visionaries received in Kibeho. This book helped me learn more and opened my eyes to what little is known about Kibeho. It is unfortunate that Kibeho is not more familiar and this is why I recomend this book. It is truely something new to discover if you already haven't done so. It left an impact on me and makes me thirsty to find out more about Mary and her role with humanity, sanctity, and the persuit of holliness. If we trust that the events that happened there are true, the messages, especially the ones in this book, have huge implications on how we live our lives and where we place God in it. I recomend that if you're thinking of buying the book, that you Do so and take the messages at heart, subdue your skepticism and truely ponder on what has been addressed. You will be blessed reading this book!!

I chose to read Our Lady Of Kibeho as my fifth Rwandan WorldReads book because I wanted something that showed there's more to this country than the 1994 genocide which has become synonymous with Rwanda. Discovering the events which occurred at an isolated rural village, Kibeho, thirteen years earlier allowed me this. I'm not Catholic, or religious in any way, myself, but I was still amazed that I had never previously heard of Kibeho. After all, the similar Marian sites in Europe, Fatima and Lourdes, are famed worldwide. Perhaps Kibeho will join their ranks once it has sufficient infrastructure in place to cater to the needs of as many visitors?In this book, Immaculee Ilibagiza, who was still a child at the time of the first Kibeho apparitions, recounts her memories of how the phenomena were received by herself and her family. She manages to recount much of what each visionary said, word for word, thanks to tape recordings made at the time and this gives a sense of immediacy to the work. Ilibagiza's own faith and enthusiasm shines through her writing, especially as she describes the excitement which swept through Rwanda as news of the Kibeho apparitions spread. That something so joyful which brought so many people together could precede such darkness and violence only adds to the later horror. I appreciated that Ilibagiza doesn't overdo the foreshadowing, but for me as a reader it was hard to avoid seeing 1980s Kibeho without an awareness of 1994.

Couldn't be written better. Highly recommended. Opens up a whole new world, and this book exposed hidden reality to the world. I don't understand how these messages barely reached the rest of the world. I can now understand Mary's role better and feel more confident that she and Jesus are always there, although they may not necessarily stop bad things from happening. God bless the writer.

I first read about Our Lady of Kibeho back in the 1980's when the apparitions were still occurring and under 'review' which means I can relate to the events in this book and the subsequent events in Rwanda from the complete historical perspective. The first reports seemed more than a little incredible and difficult to believe, then as events unfolded it became more and more evident that something supernatural might indeed have been occurring. From our present day perspective the story this book tells is probably the most relevant of recent Marian apparitions and fills in a lot of small details which weren't available earlier. My only slight caveat is that if you buy this book then you should also buy 'Left To Tell' and 'Lead By Faith' which are, in essence parts 2&3 of Immaculee's story and are essential to it. In our media driven age I think too many of us see apparitions through Hollywood tinted spectacles, all bright lights, soft music, illusory suffering and faith providing a magical solution for everything. This book is the first in a trilogy which shows to me at least that is very far from the case.

I certainly enjoyed this book. I found it hard at times to put it down. It tells of children who saw the Virgin Mary in visions and what she wants us all in the world to know. I enjoyed the personal story of the person writing the book although it is awful what did become of this part of the world in the end. Maybe it is a message for us all, it has certainly made me think more about life. Again this is a book which each individual who reads it must make up their own minds about what they read.

I was not aware of the full impart Our Lady had on Rwanda until I read this book.Please read it if you get the opportunity as it shows a lot of family love, which is very rare in todays society, it shows how man has become so inhumane please read the book and pray to Our Lady for guidance.