{UAH} Millions expected at Nnamugongo this coming Wednesday 3 June 2015

Vast endless crowds, assembling pilgrims, tourists and business people have already 

pitched camp at the Namugongo shrines, notably at the Catholic one which welcomes

every 3rd of June crowds estimated at over a million, if not more as the real figure of a million

was first hit in the late eighties when late Cardinal Nsubuga was still the Archbishop of Kampala.

From then crowds have doubled and redoubled to reach a record 3 million and above! An experienced

Burundi expert journalist was the fiorst to talk about the 4 million-strong crowd he saw at Namugongo

in 2013. Perhaps he was right if one believes in what a Western media expert had observed two years earlier

when he confirmed having seen in Namugongo what he considred to be the largest crowd of pepole in his life!

Anyway and in any case the Namugongo crowds are just said to be phenomenal and the way they assemble and

manage to squeeze themselves in an already crowded limitless expanse has always astonished a number of observers! 

Indeed the Namugongo crowders with the way they squeeze in could pack to a full million in a place like St Peter's Square in Rome

where the hundreds of thousands that assemble there respect the logic of free space for commuting and  "breathing."

So this is the phenomenon anticipated in two days' time at Namugongo where thousands are now already present and countless

thousands more expected in the course of the next forty-eight hours. Among the new arrivals will be pilgrims from all neighbouring

countries, a good number of  whom are trekking the long distance on foot! Recently when in Nairobi for a forum I was informed of

the 60 pilgrims that were flagged off in Nairobi by Kenya's Cardinal John Njue.They are expected in Kampala latest tomorrow morning. 

And another Nairobi batch, travelling by coach, is expected in Namugongo today Monday. To these are the hundreds and hundreds of

other Kenyan pilgrims travelling and walking from the western districts of the country. And this is only about Kenya! And how about the

2050 pilgrims from Tanzania and the dozens from Malawi? And now turning to Uganda, the local papers and social media have introduced

us to the plucky group;from Lira Diocese, in fact over 300 pilgrims who have been walking for a week to reach Namugongo today afternoon!

Great! And it's this diocese that will chair the ceremonies / festivities at the Catholic Shrine on Wednesday! All these trekking pilgrims have so far

been very appreciative of the welcome given to them by the locals whenever they have passed! Of course, on the other hand, there have been

very deep resentment has been borne against those " fools " who used the opportunity to cheat the poor humble Kenyan pilgrims out of their money

at the border. But these are a "silly" minority rot who in any way don't epitomize Uganda's lovely hospitality which helps draw in more pilgrims to

Namugongo every year. And yes, every year from every corner of the planet. Many from the USA, Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Canada, India, etc

have arrived and more others, from very far,  are expected. And to all these people from foreign lands one will of course add the real millions from

inside the country.. Their numbers will fill to the brim all the vast expanses, roads, paths and bushes and plantains around the place. That will indeed

be the real Namugongo with its charisma to attract and to mobilize spiritually! The story of the Martyrs ( the 24 Catholic and the 23 Anglicans) has always

touched the whole world. And it's good that the ceremonies bear a stintless attraction that very highly impresses the pilgrims. At the Catholic shrine, for

example, many pilgrims from overseas are stricken dumb with surprise by the originality of the liturgy itself and the accompanying music, the holy procession of hundreds of celebrants pacing behind the martyrs' relics, the ululations / cheers, etc and the endless limitless vast see of heads, uncountable to any proportins! And there is the aspect of a formidable church that assembles all kinds of VIPs seconded by the ordinary multitudes, and also the what to chew and sip at a very ordinary cheap cost ( for those the rate of exchange between their home currencies and the shilling is a steady smile in their pockets). And above all the foreign pilgrims return home with the idea of having discovered in Namugongo the much vibrant and powerful energetic Church in Africa seed-bedded on the blood of these Holy Martyrs whose June 3 Feast Day is universal and in a country like France where the Ugandan Martyrs are very popular the faithful will be spiritually and morally on the side of the assembled Namugongo pilgrims!

Happy Martyrs Feast Day to All!  Happy Nnamugongo to the millions who will squeeze there!

Dr G.H. Kkolokolo  ( Paris / France )