EVERY YEAR on Assumption Day, Jean Chrysostome Niyibizi, 53, leaves his home village in Gisagara District near the Rwanda-Burundi border and walks for about 11 hours to get to the Holy Land of Kibeho, far away in Nyaruguru District.

Kibeho is the village where, in 1981, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to three school-children. The apparitions were later recognised by the Roman Catholic Church in 2001 after scrutinising the results of two commissions made of doctors and theologians.

Since the apparitions were reported about three decades ago, Kibeho became a popular place for worship, prayers and pilgrimage for thousands of believers from across the world.

Niyibizi says when he first heard about the apparitions in the early 1980s, he did not bother to take his time to think about what it meant.

Though he assures me he was a Catholic, news of the Virgin Mary appearing to school girls made no impact on him.

"I just ignored them. I did not care,” the man, who was then in his early 20s, says.

"At first I didn’t give it much importance. I was not a practicing Christian,” Niyibizi later confesses.

"That doesn’t mean that I was involved in illegal activities or those that might tarnish the Church’s image. I just didn’t care and attached no or less importance on the apparitions.”

But for the 53-year-old man, the journey to Kibeho started about five years ago when he heard a call into his heart to pray and live a ‘Christian life’.

Ever since, he says, he can’t miss on the list of those who, every August 15 – the day which marks the  ascension of the Virgin Mary the mother of Jesus Christ into heaven – undertakes a journey to the ‘sacred and chosen’ Kibeho.

"I have made it a commitment to come here. Every time when I am here, I feel very strong and close to God,” he said. "It is an occasion for me to thank God for keeping me alive.”

But Niyibizi is not the only one who has made it a commitment to come for prayers at Kibeho at least once every year. Thousands of others, mainly Catholics travel from as far as Europe, America, Asia and from across the whole of Africa to pray at what has come to be known as a rallying point for God seekers.

Constantin Nizigiyimana travelled hundreds of kilometres from his home in Busiga Parish of Kayanza Province in neighbouring Burundi.

This year marked his 11th time to come for prayers in Kibeho.

"I walk for about seven hours from Burundi to Kibeho. As I walk I pray throughout the journey. This is a holy place and I always feel delighted to be here,” he said.

"We are here to thank God for what we have achieved and implore the Virgin Mary to help us address challenges that we do face in our lives,” the pilgrim observed.

God’s presence

For many believers, Kibeho is a sign of God’s presence within humanity.

Annonciata Mukandamage, 61, said that she believed praying in Kibeho gives her an unequalled chance to interact with God more closely.

"If the Virgin Mary chose this remote village there might be a reason. And, I do believe that being here brings me more blessings than praying from elsewhere,” the old woman says.

"Throughout the journey from my home to this place, I pray and reflect on my life, my strengths and my mistakes so as to correct them.”

Mukandamage adds:  "Being here inspires me to emulate Mary’s example and to be a good citizen, do good for my fellows and promote good habits and practices in whatever I do.”

Kibeho is a small village located in Nyaruguru District of the southern part of the country – at approximately 30 kilometers from Butare town.

For many Catholic believers, the village is a credible sign of Mary and God’s attachment to Rwanda and the whole world in general, which they insist was attested through the supernatural appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

But though the Vatican has approved the Kibeho apparitions as authentic, church leaders insist no Christian is forced to believe in them as is the case for all other approved apparitions, thus no one is obliged to make pilgrimages to the believed ‘Holy’ place.