Uganda Martyrs Day, 3rd
June, is a public holiday in Uganda. It
is also very important across the African continent. Even the kindergarten where I am working is
called St Kizito’s, the name of the youngest martyr. Each year many people come on foot from
countries such as Rwanda, Berundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some come from even further afield.
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| Model showing the method of burning the martyrs to death |
The Uganda Martyrs were among the
first converts to Christianity in Uganda.
The Kabaka (king) of that time was the son of the Kabaka who had invited
the missionaries to come from Europe. He
strongly disapproved of the fact that the new Christians placed God before their
service to the Kabaka. When he found
that twenty-two of his own pages had converted he decided to execute them. The youngest was only fourteen years
old. They were given the option to give
up their faith, but they all decided to die for their religion. These were not the only people to die during
that time, but are the ones that had most attention as they were killed
en-masse and with plenty of publicity, so there is plenty of documentation. Extraordinarily there is even a photograph in
the Cathedral Museum of all the martyrs together at the time of their religious
instruction.
The martyrs were killed in various
places around the kingdom and in various gruesome manners, but many were burnt
to death at a place called Namugongo (link) on the present-day outskirts of
Kampala on 3rd June 1886. Namugongo
was the traditional execution ground for the Buganda kingdom. There are two shrines, one Catholic and the
other Anglican, about two kilometres apart.
The larger number of martyrs were Anglican, but as Catholics tend to
venerate their martyrs more than the Protestant churches, the Catholic shrine
is the larger one. I am glad to say that
both denominations celebrate all the martyrs regardless.
Very early in the morning I went with
Prisca, a member of the Grail community, to Namugongo to attend Mass
there. The minibus dropped us at some
distance from the shrine. The crowds
were vast but (at first) well organised so that we gradually made progress
towards the shrine. It took over three
hours to walk about half a mile. As we
got towards the entrance the crowd became frighteningly dense so that we were
packed together so tightly that we had trouble breathing. There was a small girl in front of me with
her mother. Due to the sudden crush, her
mother had no warning to pick her up.
She was stuck among a sea of legs and was crying with fear. Thankfully her mother managed to pick her up,
but she could easily have died. We later
heard that there had been more than one million people. Two people died in the crush, trampled
underfoot.
When we were close to the gates,
security guards spotted my white face among so many Africans and plucked us
both out and through a security gate, so we were more fortunate than most. Many of the crowd outside were unable to come
in at all due to lack of space.
The actual spot where the martyrs
were killed is beneath the altar inside the basilica, which only holds 1,000
people and was therefore closed. Mass
was conducted from an island in a small artificial lake at the bottom of the
hill. Once inside we saw a sea of people
sitting and standing on the hillsides surrounding the lake. We were lucky to find a small shady spot
where we could sit, but we were too far away to hear much of the Mass. As a result it was more of a tourist
experience than a religious one.
At the end of Mass Prisca was keen to
go down to the altar at the lake-side.
It took a very long time before it was possible to do so due to the
crowds making their way out. When we
eventually moved forward, we caught the end of a speech. It turned out to be the President of Uganda,
Museveni, speaking about the desirability of pan-African unity and the
importance of religion in achieving that unity.
It was a good speech, but given the situation between Muslims and
Christians in so many African countries, not very convincing. It was still impossible to get near to the
altar, so Prisca and I sat down and ate our picnic before leaving. My bean and tomato sandwiches had been
reduced to a pulp in the crowds and greatly resembled ‘bush’ (an unappetising
hash of bread, beans and salad eaten in Sudan).
On the way back on the mini-bus I
discovered that my purse was missing. It
is possible it was stolen but more likely it had fallen out of my bag at some
point. Fortunately most of my money was
in my room at the Grail, and as credit cards are barely used in Uganda I didn’t
have one with me.
I decided that I would go back to
Namugongo by myself the next day to experience the place without the crowds and
also see if my purse had been handed in.
I found my way back easily and was pointed towards a police post. The police had large sacks of very pathetic
belongings which had been stolen but retrieved by the police. They made a report on my missing purse and
its contents and took my phone number.
Then I noticed a guide taking a small
group around the shrine so I rushed to join them. Unlike the day before, we were able to go
into the basilica and saw the actual site of the martyrdom. The guide told us about the huge impact of
the martyrdoms on the spread of Christianity in Uganda. The Uganda Martyrs went to their deaths with
such calm conviction that it made a deep impression on all witnesses. Even the Kabaka and the chief executioner
were filled with remorse and converted.
We walked down to the artificial lake.
This was originally a swamp where the executioners and torturers
ritually washed after executions to absolve themselves from blood-guilt.
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| At the Anglican shrine |
After the tour, I talked to a British
woman and her Ugandan friend who had also been looking at the site. It turned out that she is a member of the
British Council, in Uganda to promote e-learning and also to support a charity
which wants to stop local tribes losing their languages and cultures. Her friend is the headteacher of a very
prestigious local secondary school. I
told them about the standards of teaching and lack of resources in Nimule. They are both keen to help and we exchanged
contact details. I think that the loss
of my purse was an act of God to ensure that I would meet these very useful
contacts.
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| I stand in front of the tree where the martyrs were tortured at the Anglican shrine. |
Afterwards they invited me to go with
them by car to visit the Anglican shrine.
As mentioned earlier the Anglican shrine is much lower-key, but still
very interesting. There are full scale
models representing the events of the martyrdom. Somewhat foolishly, they are in the process
of major building works in the shrine itself which made it hard to access. A very bad piece of timing.
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| A small slice of the First World. |
Before dropping me off at a mini-bus
stand, my new friends took me to see the Mandela Stadium, a huge stadium which
is used for national sporting events. It
was built in 1999 in time for the Millenium.
All in all, it was a very interesting
and useful two days. Never have I
experienced such crowds, even for the Papal Mass when I was in Singapore in
1986. I hope not to have that particular
experience again! Given that the
attendance on Ugandan Martyrs Day gets bigger each year, I think I will not go
to Namugongo on the 3rd June again.
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