"Beginning on November 28, 1981, the Blessed Virgin Mary (and later Jesus) chose to appear at regular intervals to a group of teenagers in the rural countryside of Kibeho, Rwanda, giving them urgent heavenly messages intended to be shared throughout the country and the entire world." [1]
"[A]amidst the messages of encouragement to repentance and love of neighbor there was one very significant message that seemed to be the most important of all the Blessed Virgins messages; in 1982 the Blessed Virgin specifically predicted the horrible 1994 genocide--12 years before it occurred. She said that 'a river of blood ' would flow across Rwanda unless the Rwandan people stopped harboring hatred and animosity for each other, and instead would need to turn their hearts with love and brotherly charity towards one another. And on August 15, 1982, the seers saw 'a river of blood, people who were killing each other, abandoned corpses with no one to bury them, trees all in flames, bodies without their heads.'" [2] [Emphasis original.]
Rwanda - during the genocide:
"Throughout the course of 100 days from April 6 to July 16 1994, approximately 800,000 Rwandan Tutsis and some moderate Hutus were massacred in the Rwandan genocide. During this period, more than 6 men, women and children were murdered every minute of every hour of every day. This incredible rate of killing was maintained for more than 3 months. Along with the intense bloodshed, it is believed that approximately 250,000 women were raped during the 100 days of genocide (a precise count is such circumstances is impossible) and roughly 30% of the women who were raped during the genocide were infected with HIV/AIDS." [3] [Emphasis original.]
Rwanda - today:
"A handful of Muslims took a stand during the hundred days of slaughter. Their stance inspired thousands of Rwandans to become Muslim in what was once called Africa’s most Catholic country." [4] [Emphasis original.]
Quoted without hyperlinks below is from the same source as the paragraph immediately above, TRTWORLD [5]:
“I was a Catholic pastor before genocide,” Matabaro Sulaiman told TRT World on a chilly Thursday night in Kigali, dressed in a flashy purple jilbab - a long loose-fit dress worn by Muslim men.
When the genocide in Rwanda began in 1994, the 49-year-old, suffered a crisis of faith watching the churches, in which he preached peace and unity became slaughterhouses.
“Christians were killing people in the church,” Sulaiman said.
“The [victims] went to churches thinking they will find peace but instead, they were killed.
“Meanwhile, I saw Muslims take people inside the mosque.”
Since the advent of European colonialism in the country in 1884, Roman Catholicism has been the dominant religion in Rwanda.
But in the last 25 years, Islam has become an alternative for thousands of Rwandans who lost their faith in Christianity during the genocide.
Muslims made up one percent of the population before the genocide. Although no census has been conducted, today “12 percent to 15 percent of the total population is Muslim”, according to Salim Habimana, a former Mufti of the country.
...
Many went to churches as a last resort to seek refuge but death eventually found them, even in what they hoped were houses of God.
Thousands were killed inside churches across the country, including Rwanda’s largest Catholic church, Saint Famille.
More than 2,000 people who sought shelter were killed after Pastor Wenceslas Munyeshyaka collaborated with the attackers instead of protecting those in need.
Nyamata Church, located in the outskirts of south Kigali, became a mass grave for nearly 50,000 people who thought they were safe. The victims’ clothes still remain piled on pews inside the church.
However, when churches became slaughterhouses, the country’s tiny Muslim minority opened its doors.
...
“Muslims were very few in number and had no capacity and power… but they decided to help others who were being killed,” Sulaiman said.
“But I saw how those few Muslims… did something extraordinary to help people,” he added, his eyes watering and his voice croaking.
“When I saw efforts to help people during that time of danger, I said to myself maybe, maybe this is the reality of Islam. This is the Islam they are talking about.
"I decided to become Muslim.”
Now, Sulaiman shares the stage with Christian pastors, getting into heated discussions about religious issues in front of audiences of hundreds. He goes travelling from village to village, preaching Islam.
Next to Sulaiman, sits Ndagijimana Ibrahim. At 14, he lost most of his family members, including his father, when the militias attacked his home.
He managed to escape and got back on his feet after the genocide. He now has three masters degrees with a PhD pending in governance.
He backed up Sulaiman’s accounts of how Muslims behaved during the genocide.
He told TRT World that when the killings began in April 1994, the Mufti of Rwanda prohibited Muslims from involvement in the killings, arguing that killing civilians is forbidden in Islam. [This is probably an overstatement.]
“Muslims supported the Tutsi families and hid them,” Ibrahim said.
“We have a very big number of former Christians who converted to Islam based on the fact that they have been saved and hidden by the Muslims at that time.”
...
Mbarushimana Hussain was four years old when he and his parents took shelter in a mosque for a month.
"Even though, I was four years old, I can't forget that Muslim man.
“Amid mass murder, the Muslim guy used to go out everyday and brought food for 40 non-Muslims in the mosque."
Hussain said: “Ten years after genocide, I became Muslim along with my mother and father.
“We couldn't forget the kindness of Muslims.”
Apparently, the visionaries' accounts of what was to happen in Rwanda 12 years earlier in 1982 did not have any effect upon the Rwandan Catholics who converted willingly to Islam. This proves that it is neither Catholic wealth, power, apparitions nor proven miracles that draw people in; rather, it is love of neighbor as oneself, the second most important commandment [5] that does.
If all Catholics would put an end to their self-righteousness, in-fighting, desire for wealth, lust for power, hypocrisies and pretensions of holiness, and focus on true humility, genuine love of neighbor and of God then perhaps by their exemplary lives, they will gain respect and Catholic churches will see attendance grow rather than diminish.
“Live like Jesus did, and the world will listen.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
[1] http://www.mysticsofthechurch.com/2015/01/our-lady-of-kibeho-heavenly-warnings.html
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] https://www.trtworld.com/africa/from-the-ashes-of-genocide-islam-rises-in-rwanda-25565
[5] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+22%3A36-40&version=NIV
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