Many people were climbing up while others descended. On our way up, we met a man and asked if he had just come from the peak. He confirmed he had and told us he had just experienced an apparition, seeing Maria multiple times. When we asked how we could see Maria, he explained it was easy and that Maria was appearing to almost everyone who came to see her. This gave me hope—I believed that my effort to hike the hill was faith enough for Maria to appear to me. He advised us to stare directly at the sun upon reaching the peak. After concentrating for some time, a white cloud would appear, and Maria would emerge alongside it, wearing her garment. We trusted his advice and continued our climb.

The hill was steeper than I had anticipated, and I began panting and sweating. I suggested to my companion that we take it slow, resting occasionally. During one of our breaks, groups of 10–15 people passed us on their way up. Finally, we reached the peak, excited to witness what everyone else had seen.

Now, I was wearing sunglasses, but my companion wasn’t. I wondered how we were supposed to stare directly at the sun—it’s dangerous for the eyes, and no one can do it for more than a minute. Why hadn’t anyone thought to sell protective glasses for this purpose? I remembered the 2013 solar eclipse in Packwach District, where people brought special glasses to watch it. Merchants sold them alongside T-shirts and made huge profits. Why wasn’t anyone selling such glasses here? I decided to use my sunglasses.

Three minutes into staring at the sun, a woman advised us to humble ourselves in prayer first; only then would Maria appear. I sat on a large rock, ready to start praying. The view from the peak was breathtaking—you could see the entire town, surrounded by beautiful scenery and fresh air. It was a place I never wanted to leave. Just as I began to pray, a woman screamed with joy, claiming Maria had appeared to her. What? We all rushed to where she was standing. She was ecstatic and thanked Maria for appearing to her. Over 15 people gathered around her, eager to see what she had seen.

My expectations were now sky-high. I wondered what spiritual realm I was about to experience. I desperately wanted to see Maria with my own eyes. Unfortunately, I saw nothing. Most of us saw nothing. I blamed my lack of faith for not seeing her. The woman encouraged us to remain calm and focused in the direction she indicated in the pine forest. After a minute, a man shouted, “Oh, Maria is here! I see her in her full glory, wearing her gown!” But my companion and I still saw nothing.

They showed us a specific spot between the trees where we should look. I saw something resembling a small tree branch, though I couldn’t tell where it was attached. With a longer stare, this dark shape seemed to enlarge. The women around us screamed that Maria was wearing a glittering blue gown and was expanding and turning. Was this Maria? To me, it seemed like the moving clouds in the background were enlarging the shape. They insisted it was Maria. My companion asked why he couldn’t see her face. I couldn’t either. We both stared in vain.

Among the group, some men were skeptical, but one suddenly screamed that he had seen Maria in the clouds, describing her garment as blue. I tried again to spot her but still saw nothing. Meanwhile, those who claimed to see her knelt and began praying with their rosaries. Since we didn’t have rosaries, we decided to descend.

At the beginning of October 2024, it was said that there was a Marian Apparition on one of the hills (Rwensa) in Masindi Municipality in the western region of Uganda. A childhood friend of mine (Cox), who lives in Europe, heard the news before I did while I was in Nairobi at the time—the power of social media. He called to ask if it was true. He had seen on social media prominent and senior figures from Masindi, which doubles as my home area, struggling with the steep hill to go and see Maria or for Maria to appear to them and grant most of their desires.

I couldn’t understand whether it was drama or a real-life testament. I returned to the country and planned to go and see what others were seeing. As a mountain climber who had spent almost a whole year without climbing a mountain, I was excited to take on this challenge and witness the apparition. Upon reaching Masindi, I almost failed to fulfill my intention because I was fatigued and wanted to sleep some more. However, I had shared my plans with another friend of mine in Europe (Stephan), who was interested in finding out what happened at the hill. He encouraged me not to give up but to go and find out for myself.

The previous night, I had a chat with the hotel owner where I spent the night. He told me the place had been overwhelmed by believers, businesspeople, and revelers. I asked if he had gone to see for himself, but he said he wasn’t a believer and wasn’t interested. My sister Charity and my brother Sam had told me they had been to the hill and that Maria appeared to them. Of course, Sam doubted that Charity had managed to hike the steep hill, which was about 1,500 meters above sea level, and also doubted that she had seen Maria. I also doubted the two had really gone there; I assumed they were merely repeating the speculations circulating. They warned me that “Maria didn’t show her face to people of little faith.” She didn’t just appear to anyone; you had to be a believer for her to appear to you. The question was: how could one master the art of faith within a short period of time? It was believed that many spent weeks and days camping at the base of the hill in prayer to cultivate the faith needed to see the apparition. Many who were seen as non-believers didn’t see the apparition, even after spending days to weeks camping at the hill.

Religiously, it’s only the Catholic faith that believes in and prays through Maria. The Anglicans, Born-Again Christians, and members of other religions only know her as the mother of Jesus, the son of God. How was I supposed to know how to pray through Maria? To my surprise, it wasn’t only Catholics flooding this now-famous hill; Muslims, too, were part of this historic moment. They were intrigued by the apparition because they had not believed it was happening and wanted to witness it for themselves. A number of Muslims testified that the Marian apparition happened to them as well.

How long was this apparition going to last? That was a question everyone answered differently because no one knew the exact timing. How did they learn about the apparition? A number of theories circulated, and it was hard to discern the exact truth. One theory was that Maria appeared to a child who had gone to graze cattle on the hill and told him to inform his grandmother that she needed people to pray from that hill and that she would be with them for a few days. Another theory was that Maria appeared to a woman who had gone to the hill and told her to pray there and inform the rest of the world to do the same. It was said that this woman became mute and didn’t speak anymore after the apparition. My question was: how did she relay the information to the masses? Did she cease talking after revealing the message? I didn’t manage to find out who this woman was. No one spoke about her whereabouts.

 

Part 2 To be continued….