Eastern Africa pilgrimages

MARTYR’S DAY ATTRACTS CHRISTIAN PILGRIMS AGAIN
In spite of the present economic downturn plenty of foreign pilgrims came once again to Uganda to celebrate the annual remembrance at Namugongo, a short way outside Kampala en route to Jinja. The region topped the ‘foreign’ visitors with pilgrims from Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Burundi being registered, but from further away still came groups from Nigeria, Italy, the United States and Canada. The memorial at Namugongo was consecrated by none other than Pope Paul VI in the late 60’s and later also visited by Pope John Paul II. Hundreds of thousands of Christians meet at Namugongo every year to remember the 23 martyrs, all of whom were since elevated to sainthood in the Catholic Church.

Faithful from across Eastern Africa had walked at times for days and weeks to reach the venue of the celebrations in a classic pilgrimage by foot, while others arrived in buses and car convoys from the entire region. Religious ‘tourism’ remains largely underestimated but in fact makes significant contributions to the sector, as the annual Martyr’s Day statistics regularly show.

Read the full story at
http://www.eturbonews.com/9619/wolfgang-s-east-africa-report