Subukia Shrine

I had never been to Subukia shrine before. It was in the month of October that I made my first visit to the Holy Village of Mary as a pilgrim. I was in the company of my fiancé and my two lovely sisters .Our plan was to go spend the night at the grotto with our Mother Mary singing , praising and praying to our Lord and King for different intentions but mainly to seek inner peace/healing. 

We left Nairobi at around 1200hrs for Nakuru town

and later connected from Nakuru town to  Subukia. The shrine is located in Nakuru County along Nyeri- Nyahururu road. One can access the shrine either via Nakuru town or Nyahururu town through Gilgil town. The shrine is about 5 km from the tarmac road. It is strategically located on top of a hill and surrounded by a forest. From Subukia town, one can have a glimpse of the Shrine with the mega Church under construction as the landmark. It looks so close, yet so far away. To access the shrine, one can use a bodaboda  (motorbike) for KSh. 150 or walk. We preferred to use the latter means

Walking allowed us to ask for penitence and sanctification before entering the Holy Shrine. There was also time to recite the Holy Rosary asking for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. After walking for more than 5km in less than 2 hours on an uphill, we realized that if it were not for the Rosary, some of us could not have made it to the Shrine compound. 

Upon arrival, we were received by the Catechist Sammy who guided us on how to pray during our stay at the shrine. The shrine has two grottos. One within the compound

and the other one further uphill and into the forest. To access the grotto in the forest,

which has the springs of Holy Water and where the Blessed Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared, one has to walk a further 1 to 2 kilometer. It is called the Way Of The Cross.

The dark was approaching and we therefore had to continue with our pilgrimage which we had started in our hearts when we had made a decision to visit our Mother Mary at the Village. We first visited the church under construction. After this we proceeded to the cross and we learnt that the cross was built with 3 stones one from……we offered our petition at the cross and took some pic.We started reciting the luminous mysteries we passed by the Mother Mary Grotto but it was locked so we didn’t have a chance to have a look at it….by the time we reached the way of the cross dark had already filled the place but we were eager to finish on our journey but then deep in mind I had so so many fears, remember I have never been to this place and here we are entering into the forest I even suggested we sleep at the grotto near the main church mind ,you we were the only group at the shrine at that time but my team were so focused that they could trade it for anything.its funny that up to this date we don’t know how we reached the wells

We were awed with its magnificence and vastness. Upon completion, it would have to be filled by one thousand people to be filled to capacity. That was from a local working with the company that is constructing the Church. Next was the way of light........................

because we didn’t have a stop/pause during the way of the cross .Ait was quiet at the well we started by quenching our thirst with the holy water and then settling for the best place to spend the night and as soon as we were settled we started singing praise song to God for all he had done to our lives btw this was the favourite part of the stay…..too bad we forgot to carry a drum.but my fiancé is very innovative and he ended up coming up with a drum like we danced soo much to that kapoint where we sort of experienced “paul and silas moment””…lol

We had our own ka programme for the night……to be frank this was the best night of my life ..lighting candles in the grotto,we like literally prayed all the rosaries there are in the catholic church,we read the bible and exchanged the words amongst ourselves,shared our experinces on God mighty works in our lives,prayed for each other ,our families,friends and on the whole world.

And before we could realise the dawn was approaching…..i saw the star and the moon come and vanish,this experience gave me a chance to see how the clouds form in the sky  I was able to appreciate Gods creation and also ths experience was aturning point in my spiritual life since I saw how God protects us because the whole night we were safe just the four and nothing bothered us 

We finished our pilgrimage with mass at the church celebrated by a local Priest

                                                    church chapel