Sacred waters where Legio Maria faithful take holy dip
by Wycliffe Kipsang
Nestled along the Kisumu-Nandi border are the Chemelil Hills which are believed to have a stream with holy water, used to conduct ‘self cleansing’.
Thousands of believers from the Legio Maria sect flock the hill annually as part of their religious pilgrimage.
The sect members, believe the precious stream is their source of ‘holy water’ used to conduct ‘sect cleansing’.
They believe the stream’s ‘holy water’ can cure illness, break curses, offer spiritual support, cleanse sins, provide spiritual protection among other sect beliefs.
People Daily has established that those who commit adultery are also advised to seek cleansing in this ‘holy stream’ to avoid the wrath of God before they are allowed to reintegrate with fellow sect members.
Legio Maria members believe that the stream has existed since the ‘Biblical times,’ reason it never run dry. They believe the stream has served hundreds of thousands of sect members in providing the said ‘holy water’ for centuries.
From a vantage point on the eastern side of the Nandi escarpment, People Daily witnessed men and women adorning the ‘official Legio Maria sect regalia’ disappear into sugarcane plantation to collect the holy water.
Mberere Trading Centre along the Kericho-Chemeli-Nandi hills road experiences booming business owing to the existence of the stream.
Men and women believed to be dealers in spiritual materials also frequent the stream where they load several 20-litre jerricans into awaiting vehicles to transport the ‘holy water’ to areas where Legio Maria sect is a dominant religious outfit with aim to cash in on the water.
The sect clerics claim that the water is intended to be distributed free of charge, but Mberere residents believe some unscrupulous dealers sell the water to desperate faithful who cannot physically access the stream. The members have also turned the indigenous forest surrounding the ‘holy stream’ into a religious shrine to practise some sect rituals including fasting, praying and full body cleansing.
The members have constructed specials shades along the stream for the sect pilgrims who make the religious journey to fast, pray and seek cleansing from the stream.
Their strong reverence for the stream has seen Chemelil receive hundreds of weekly sect believers from as far as West and Central African countries.
Standing 50 metres away from the stream, enchanting sect members can be heard as each sect member seeks cleansing from the stream.
The access of the stream is not blocked to non-believers whereas outsiders are required to ‘respect the shrine’ by removing their shoes and washing their hands and feet before walking around the stream.
Believers are also required to switch off their mobile phones and to walk barefoot while within the stream surrounding.
While sect members visit during the day, members are encouraged to spend nights in the stream area fasting and praying before collecting the stream holy water for other religious purposes at home.
People Daily also established that during the campaign period, many politicians troop to the stream seeking blessings and normally fetch the so-called holy water so as to get elected a head of the election.
Discovered by Ondeto
A Legio Maria cleric narrated how the stream was discovered in 1966 by the sect’s Pope, the late Messiah Simeon Ondeto.
The sect believers say the stream never dries up despite regular prolonged droughts where Legio Maria sect members now believe the stream ‘was planted by the ‘God of Jacob and Abraham.’
According to a senior Legio Maria cleric in charge of the Rift Valley region, Rev Donald Mwalei, Pope Messiah Simeon Ondeto discovered the Mberere stream when he led a large number of the church believers to the Chemelil Hills to conduct fasting and praying activities.
“The stream was discovered during a 14-day religious excursion of fasting and praying, we believe that the Gods of Jacob and Abraham led the late Pope to discover this holy stream,” Mwalei told People Daily in an interview.
Mwalei claimed that some sect members were on the verge of death owing to the grueling fasting when the late Pope Simeon discovered that consuming some drops of the holy water ensured that sect members were never hungry or thirsty.
“Believers who consumed even a drop of water from the stream water never got hungry or thirsty for a full day,” added the cleric. He says that ever since the late Pope Ondeto discovered and blessed the special water at Mberere it has kept on increasing thus serving an ever-increasing number of the Legio Maria sect followers in East and Central Africa. Rev Mwalei says the sect has over a million believers in Kenya alone.
