WiPolo Martyrs Shrines enhance northern Uganda tourism portfolio
by Ernest Jjingo · The ObserverEvery October 20, thousands of pilgrims from Uganda and as far as Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan flock to WiPolo Martyrs Shrine in Agago district to celebrate the Catholic martyrs, Daudi Okello and Jildo Irwa, and last Sunday was not any different.
WiPolo means heaven in Acholi, and since the two catechists were promising the local people to go to heaven when they died, the place of their martyrdom to date bears the name WiPolo. The shrines are remotely located in Agago’s Paimol sub-county with the journey taking you through a bumpy murram road for about two hours from Kitgum, the nearest large town.
When you finally get to the shrines, you are welcomed by two arches; one below the other at the entrance with a cross visible from afar. The arch on top represents Okello, who was the older youth killed at 17 years old and the one below represents Irwa who was only 14 when he was killed.
Okello’s arch being on top and Irwa’s below represents the support and protection the former offered to the latter. The architecture at the shrines which consists of the two arches, a mausoleum and altar were designed by Italian architect Giuseppe Nicora, who designed the shrines according to the tradition of the Universal Church and in respect of the local style, traditions and natural environment.
The general outlook includes only a few buildings, giving room to the natural green environment in which the structures are inserted. The heart of the shrine consists of an open structure with only concrete steps for sitting on, which can accommodate at least 20,000 pilgrims.
It faces the presbytery with the altar used during the celebrations every October 20. The altar is positioned opposite of the church thus creating a dialogue between the celebrants and the place of martyrdom. The church was built in 2004 at the request of the local population as a memory of the martyrdom of the place.
It is under Kalongo parish but the caretakers here hope that it can be turned into a parish by the Gulu diocese in the near future. The church, which has a seating capacity of 300 people, is currently being run by two priests led by Father Joseph Okumu, and two nuns.
MARTYRDOM
During a recent visit to the shrines, James Ojok, a seminarian at the shrines told journalists that in 1917, the two catechists Daudi Okello and Jildo Irwa were sent to Paimol from Kitgum mission by Father Cesare Gambaretto, a Comboni Missionary Father, to replace catechist Antonio who had died from a mysterious illness.
While at Paimol, Okello and Irwa found a rock under a Bito tree where they would sit and teach young boys and girls Christianity. This rock was also used as a church for prayers. The tree and rock still exist to date, with markings of the mancala game (omweso), which they used to play during their free time still visible in the rocks.
However, it was a politically delicate moment in Paimol as there was a power struggle between the anointed chief of the village, Lakidi who had been deposed and imprisoned by the British, and a new chief Amet imposed by the British but not recognised by the people. After some months of detention of Lakidi in Kitgum, on his return to the village, he unleashed brutality on anyone who was associating with the White man and the two catechists found themselves victims of this situation and a plan to kill them was hatched.
“But before the killing happened, some sympathisers stealthily went to them to try and convince them to stop teachings of the new religion and urge them to escape from the village, which they refused,” Ojok narrated.
On the fateful morning of October 18, 1918, Lakidi’s men led by his commandant Ogal Lowamoi dragged Okello from his hut and speared him to death while Irwa, being the youngest was given chance to denounce Christianity to spare his life, which he refused, saying: “If you have killed Daudi because he was teaching the new religion, then kill me too, for I too have been teaching it with him”.
He was speared to death the following day. According to Ojok, Okello and Irwa’s bodies remained unburied as the tradition wanted, and it is only after a few days that they were dragged on to an anthill nearby. In 1926, Monsignor Vignato accompanied by Bala Donasiano went to Paimol and recovered what remained of their relics and moved them into the church in Kitgum.
“Today when pilgrims visit the site, they collect soil from the exact place where these martyrs were killed and shed blood and take it home with a belief that it can cure several ailments and bring good luck. A pit has started growing at the spot due to the increasing number of people who collect soil from there,” said Ojok.
The two martyrs were beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 20, 2002 at St Peter’s Square in Rome during the World Missionary day. This was after the pope had visited Uganda in 1993 and launched a hearty appeal to let no memory of the martyrs fall to oblivion.
Near the spot where the teenagers were killed, a mausoleum which contains their grave has been constructed and next to their grave are rosaries and chits of prayer requests left behind by believers requesting for their divine intervention. However, their remains are not buried in this grave because of fear of being vandalised since there is no security at the shrine. The relics are being kept at the Gulu diocese cathedral.
MAINTAINING THE SHRINES
Since it is a vast area of about 22 acres, the caretakers face a challenge of maintaining the place and making sure it is attractive to visitors. Bosco Ojara, the secretary of Wipolo Martyrs Catholic church, said the offerings they get from the congregation are too little to make any impactful developments to the place and it is donors from countries such as Italy and Belgium who have contributed funds to develop the place and construct the current buildings and monuments.
“As a church, we don’t have enough money to maintain the place even for simple tasks like slashing the bushes. Even though we get a big congregation of about 500 during Sunday mass, we only collect offertory of around Shs 10,000 because our people here give Shs 100 to Shs 200. If you are lucky and you find a note of Shs 5,000, you just know that person is a visitor, and not from within our locality,” Ojara said.
However, in 2021 ahead of that year’s WiPolo Martyrs celebrations, President Yoweri Museveni donated Shs 100 million towards developing the shrines. This was used to set up modern washrooms and put up a water source, which not only serves the large number of pilgrims on October 20 but also the entire community of Paimol village.
There has also been encroachment on the land where the shrine is seated by the locals and, therefore, the church is in plans of registering and getting a land title for it. Agago district and Paimol village border the Karamoja region which is known for hostile attacks on its neighbours.
This, therefore, creates insecurity in the area, which leaves pilgrims often scared for their lives. However, Ojara says that the church has often coordinated with security agencies especially the army, who provide maximum security to the pilgrims during the days of the celebrations every October and also maintain a presence in the area during normal days.
RELIGIOUS TOURISM
Religious tourism is being looked at as one of the key aspects to diversifying Uganda’s tourism portfolio in addition to wildlife and adventure tourism. With an estimated hundred of thousands pilgrims flocking to the Uganda Martyrs shrines in Namugongo every June 3, there is no doubt that Uganda has a huge potential for religious tourism.
According to the ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities development programme annual performance report for the financial year 2023/24, 52,665 people visited Uganda for religious purposes in 2023, up by 32 percent from 39,911 people in 2022.
The Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) is, therefore, planning on promoting WiPolo Martyrs Shrine to be the second biggest religious tourist destination site in East Africa after the Uganda Martyrs shrines in Namugongo as a broader part to revitalize faith-based tourism in Uganda.
“WiPolo shrine is a very promising site because it has many faithful who visit it to pay homage to its martyrs. The Namugongo shrines are largely visited because of the prominence they have been given and we want to extend the same to the WiPolo shrines,” said Simplicious Gessa, the head of public relations and communications at UTB.
The shrines are now an addition to the Northern Uganda tourism circuit that has culture from the Karimojong, wildlife at Kidepo Valley National Park and adventure at Aruu falls creating a diversity of experience for tourists to the region.
“Unlike other tourism products like wildlife and adventure, faith-based tourism is more central to people’s hearts making them more willing to travel from different corners of the world and we want to tap into that,” he added.