MEMOIRS OF MARTYRS’ DAY: A PILGRIM’S LOVE STORY

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By Prim K. Tumuramye

Looking back, it looks like yesterday! The year was 2009 in the month of June and the date was 11th.  Yes, it was the aftermath of the Martyrs’ Day season. The memory is still fresh. I had left my workplace on the eve of the Martyr’s Day for a vacation in Kampala, knowing that Heroes’ Day would follow shortly after, making it an opportune holiday time.

Well, that day, I met Dickson (now my husband). The first impression was that this young man looked well groomed and was a gentleman. His looks do not need a second thought…. he is strikingly handsome! To me, that was just it….he was one of the many nice people I had met in life. To him, (as I later learnt), this was not just coincidence…. he needed to know me more. We exchanged contacts and, in my heart, I thought…. ‘this is an addition of one other contact that will lie idly in my phone till I get a new one and I delete it for space.’ How wrong I was….this very contact made my phone busy since that day! Ask me how I feel about the contact I got that day, and I could assure you that I would willingly delete ALL my contacts just to retain this one.

Like it is said, one thing led to another and I was head over heels in love with him. To Aunt Charity Boonabaana (Rest in peace) who knew I had gone to Kampala during the Martyrs’ season, realizing the change in my socio-emotional status concluded that the Pilgrimage (Kuramaga) had not left me the same. That’s how Dickson ended up getting the name ‘Omuramagi.’

Without any reasonable doubt, it was very clear the Lord was leading me to spend the rest of my life with this young man. He had all the qualities I would have wished for in the male species. To date I still wonder why his father named him ‘Dickson’….I am convinced ‘David’ would have suited him most. He is truly a man after God’s heart. God knows if I get another son, I will name him David to pay up for this.

2013 comes and Uganda Christian University is celebrating 100 years of service of the Bishop Tucker School of Divinity and Theology and one of the activities to mark this celebration is hosting the Martyrs’ Day worship. For close to six months, I have trekked the Namugongo route, thankfully not on foot! Plans were made, pressures on implementation mounted each passing day and oh my, the Namugongo DO was DOING me. I felt martyred myself. Yesterday this Namugongo DO was finally UNDONE!!!! All through memories of the first Martyrs’ Day celebration that changed my life kept playing in my mind. The little angel in me grew from one trimester to another and walked the Namugongo journey with me, never complaining at any single day. The dusty Seeta-Namugongo route to beat traffic jam, the bumpy roads that rudely reminded me of labor pains and the critics of the progress we made as a committee never made this little angel look back.  You truly are a Centenary baby. We lived each day at a time and always hoped that one day we will relive the sweet memories of Martyrs’ Day like mom did back in 2009.

June 03, 2013 came and yes, it was a success. To error is human, I don’t care what did not go right. The bigger picture is, it all went well. To my little angel, by the time you come into the world, probably another diocese will be set to begin planning for next year’s Martyrs’ Day. Many children will have stories about the Uganda Martyrs…..but your story will be ‘HOW MY DAD MET MY MOM’

It has been a journey well travelled indeed….and as for the Martyrs’ season; I will always cherish the memories, for it is in this season that my life was changed.

©Prim K. Tumuramye

4th June 2013

Prim is a Christian, wife, mother and Communications Specialist at Compassion International. She is passionate about reading, writing, youth mentorship and intentional parenting. 

 

 

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