Martyrs Day Musings ( Part One)

At a recent vigil of a public servant, a friend asked me a question about what we need to do for or about our nation Uganda. This question came at the backdrop of a similar conversation i had  had that morning with a young man who always stops me for deep and profound conversations whenever he sees me. This particular young man is quite unique – he is deeply intellectual, very observant and forward looking. While his looks might be deceptive and misleading, his brain is not. I would never have discovered this if I had brushed him off at first sight – but that is for another conversation

The question at the vigil does invite very many answers and viewpoints. However, one of them that I talked about was to do with what we can do about our young people. I opined that it is important for us to invest in the future by giving quality time to our young generation. (While I am still reeling from the reality that I am no longer part of this young generation because I have climbed to the fourth floor as we call it now, it is clear to me that it is now -or never- for us to be more intentional about how we invest in these young people.)  

You see, as I write this post, our nation is celebrating Martyrs Day. This is the day when we remember the young men (23 Anglican and 22 Catholic) who were brutally executed (allegedly on the orders of King Muwanga of Buganda Kingdom). This was reportedly between the 31^st of January 1885 and the 27^th of January 1887. The reason for their death, which was carried out by a zealous chief called Mukajanga, was because they had chosen to practice a new faith. Their decision to remain true to their new found faith, was the seed that has now become the strongly entrenched tree of deep faith and religion in our nation. Indeed pilgrims from all over the African continent and the nation walk to the Martyrs shrine at Namugongo to remember this great sacrifice. A recent visitor to our nation did observe to me that he noticed that deep faith (or religious nature) of the Ugandans he had interacted with. The sacrifice of these young men must have contributed to this in one way or another.

The above notwithstanding, it should however be remembered, that for the young martyrs (or basomi (readers) to have the faith for which they were willing to die, missionaries from France and England had made the ultimate sacrifice of travelling the treacherous seas and unknown lands to bring this Good News of Jesus Christ, to these lands. These missionaries – like Alexander Mackay and Father Simeon Lourdel (nicknamed Mapeera) had arrived earlier in 1877 and 1879. The earlier group belonged to the Anglican Church Missionary Society (CMS) while the latter group was part of the French Catholic White Fathers. 

We often overlook the very important role that these Missionaries played in spreading the Gospel and creating this new culture of Jesus’ love and selflessness to these lands which would today be referred to as the pearl of Africa - Uganda. However, without them, it might be fair to say that there would be no Martyrs Day today.

 ..... To be continued