At the Catholic Shrine, a well-organised, energetic choir would be singing an oratorio of the 22 original hymns of Uganda’s Martyrs.
A kilometre away, another powerful choir at the Anglican Site would be leading hymns and praises. Inside both worship places, a mammoth crowd of faithful would be packed in prayer mode.
Outside the two shrines, business would be booming – vendors reaping from the crowds, drunkards forgetting their problems over beer, and thousands of pilgrims turning the area into a festival of faith and commerce.
This is the Namugongo vibe that hundreds of thousands of Ugandan Christians and well-wishers will miss at this year’s Martyrs Day commemoration. Why? Because of the Ebola outbreak.
Ebola, which has claimed at least one Congolese national within Uganda and struck 15 individuals, has put the country on tenterhooks. Events involving mass gatherings have been cancelled or limited, leaving Christian pilgrims with a deep spiritual and emotional loss.
Thousands who would be packed in the two worship places today for the June 3 commemoration are instead confined at home, while a few lucky ones prepare to head to parish churches for ‘scientific’ prayers.
Besides stopping Ugandans and pilgrims from Kenya, Tanzania, DR Congo and other countries from trekking to Namugongo, the restrictions have created a spiritual void at the shrines.
Rev. Fr. Vincent Lubega, rector at the Namugongo Martyrs Shrine, said many changes have been put in place to contain Ebola. ‘Many changes have been put in place to contain the Ebola spread, and this has affected some of the routine, normal activities,’ he told this publication yesterday.
Fetching holy water, once done freely, has been limited. ‘There will also be no gatherings, no handshakes, and the Mass will be held inside the church, not outside at the main altar as it has always been done,’ Fr Lubega said. He added that no guests were invited this year and only 200 cleared faithful will attend Mass.
To Christian faithful, missing the trek is a total loss. Many believe their prayers were answered after enduring the long journey to the Shrine or Site. For vendors and drunkards, the three days of ‘vibe’ have been cut short. For the business community, it is worse as losses pile up.
By 6:00 am last year, all entrances to both the Catholic shrine and Anglican site were filled to capacity. Pilgrims squeezed through, taking 20 to 30 minutes to move from the entrance to the altar while police and security officers worked to prevent suffocation.
The three 1,000-capacity pavilions surrounding the altar were filled and shared among the clergy, guest pilgrims, choir, VVIPs, VIPs and other special guests. Pilgrims from Kampala and its metropolitan areas would arrive on the day, joining colleagues who had been there for days.
Today, all of that is missing. The Anglican Site, where praises would start seven days before June 3 with each day allocated activities, is quiet. Outside both worship places, the usual business is dominated by empty streets.