Stephanie Jane recenzis Our Lady of Kibeho de Immaculée Ilibagiza
Interesting
4 steloj
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 …
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.