11-Year-old Pilgrim Starts Walking 450km Trek on Foot to Namugongo

An 11-year-old is one of the 724 pilgrims trekking from Nebbi Catholic Diocese in West Nile to Namugongo Martyrs Shrine ahead of this year’s Uganda Martyrs Day celebrations.

The boy who has only been identified as Munguromo from Paidah Catholic Parish, is making his first pilgrimage according to information obtained from the diocesan officials.

The foot pilgrims drawn from the 22 Parishes of the diocese embarked on the 450-kilometer journey this morning after receiving blessings from His Grace Raphael p’Mony Wokorach, the Diocesan Administrator of Nebbi Catholic Diocese at Uganda Martyrs Chapel, Namrwodho-Nebbi Cathedral Parish.

Archbishop-elect of Gulu Archdiocese His Grace Wokorach, appealed to all the pilgrims to continue to reflect on the theme for this year’s Martyr’s Day in their journey of faith.

Sam Okaba, one of the organizers for this year’s Martyrs Day celebrations, explains that besides the youngest foot pilgrim being eleven, the oldest foot pilgrim is an 82-year-old woman from Pakwach Catholic Parish.

Robert Urombi, a pilgrim, says his main purpose of trekking to Namugongo Shrines is to exalt God for protection as he is about to mark his 50th Birthday next year.

Josephine Angucia, the West Nile regional police spokesperson explains that the security team in the region will help ensure that the pilgrims travel safely before handing them to their counterparts in the Aswa River region.

“West Nile Regional Police Headquarters is already in touch with REGPOL ASWA and REGPOL ALBERTINE for the same depending on the route they will use, amidst the ongoing road works”, Angucia said in a statement.

A total of 2,858 pilgrims from the Nebbi Catholic Diocese are expected to attend this year’s Martyr’s Day main celebrations on June 3. The diocese was selected by the Uganda Episcopal Conference to animate this year’s martyr’s day celebrations.

Each year, Christians of various walks of life embark on a pilgrimage to Namugongo to honor the 45 Christian converts (22 Catholics and 23 Protestants) who were martyred between 1885 and 1886 at the command of Kabaka Mwanga II, then King of Buganda.

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