Catching up with 300 pilgrims from Lira

May 29, 2015

A group of 300 pilgrims who have been walking all the way from Lira in northern Uganda for two weeks camped at Kasana and set out for Matugga.


By Ashraf Saif-llah Kasirye & Sarah Kisakye

LUWERO - A group of 300 pilgrims who have been walking all the way from Lira in northern Uganda for two weeks camped at Kasana, Luwero Thursday evening, set to continue to their final destination – the Martyrs’ shrine at Namugongo in Kampala.

They settled down at Our Lady Fatima Cathedral to replenish their energies.

The team was scheduled to leave Kasana at midnight, intent on covering another 20km to their next resting point in Matugga.

From there, it will be another more than 30km to their endpoint.

The group has three woman friends from Lira – Rose Nokibatte, Josephine Aketh and Hilda Akello – and the trio is determined to support each other to make it all the way.

It is a mentally- and physically-testing trek; many of the walkers have blisters under their feet and have endured the elements along the way. Some tell of pangs of headache, worsened by especially the sweltering temperatures.

In fact, they have also been battered by rain.

Yet amid all these obstacles, they remain rich in faith and their belief is that their resolve will drive them all the way to Namugongo.
 


During the rest, some pilgrims took time off to read their Bible. (Credit: Ashraf Saif-llah Kasirye)
 

 


The pilgrims, old and young, camped at the Our Lady Fatima Cathedral hall. (Credit: Ashraf Saif-llah Kasirye)
 

 


Father Ambrose Achil of Lira Diocese Parish of Tebong thanked Kasana parish management for accommodating them. (Credit: Ashraf Saif-llah Kasirye)
 

 


76-year-old Echetu Vincent Paul (L) has done the trip twice before. (Credit: Ashraf Saif-llah Kasirye)

 

true
A Lira Diocese nun prays shortly before the group sets off for Matugga.
(Credit: Ashraf Saif-llah Kasirye)

Camping at Luwero, a significant location in Uganda’s recent past – it hosted the NRA bush war of the 1980s – some pilgrims found themselves plunged into a depth of reflection over the kind of battle that did take place there over two decades ago. It should have inspired many to trudge on with their own battle on the road to the shrine.

For 76-year-old Echetu Vincent Paul, this is his third time doing the pilgrimage from Lira.

He looks frail yet strangely, he oozes self-drive and determination to do what many of his age can hardly ever dare try.

Fr. Joseph Kakooza Nyanzi , the Parish Priest of Our Lady Catholic Parish in Kasana, called on locals to support pilgrims wherever they meet them because their actions will be appreciated by God.

"For us here we have taken care of them for all the time they have been with us and they are ready to leave us happily,” he said.

The head catechist of Kasana Parish and Deanery, Selestine Lubuulwa says the late Pope John Paul II declared Kasana sub-parish a diocese in 1956.
 

 

 

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});