Living and loving it: Martyrs, movies and lessons they come with

Thousand of pilgrims seen walking from the Namugongo Catholic shrine on June 3, 2023 moment after the end of prayers. PHOTO/ ISAAC KASAMANI 

What you need to know:

  • A movie about race, family secrets and troubles, and a little music, it has so many wonderful things going for it, but this is not a movie review so I will not dwell on what it was about. 
  • As we watched them walk, I kept asking myself if I have the same faith and commitment to different things in my life.

Last week as we took the long drive (we had to use the Mpigi-Villa Maria route) to the west of the country to take our daughter back to school, we saw pilgrims along the main highway. 
For the last many years we have lived in Kira-Namugongo, we have always seen the pilgrims on the roads we use to get to town, or when travelling upcountry in late May or early June. But it never ceases to amaze me the strength, commitment and fortitude of these people. 

Last Sunday, we saw many groups walking, at the crack of dawn. We saw children walking steadfastly. We saw older people looking tired but pressing on with the help of others holding their hands or encouraging them to make the next step and the next step. 
We saw some leaning on a friend for support as their legs perhaps felt heavy and their backs weary. 

Some of these pilgrims as we have seen in the stories told by the media do this regularly. 
For the last 5, ten or fifteen years, a number of them have been making the journey regularly for hundreds of kilometres. There are those who are as young as ten years, and those as old as seventy. 

As we watched them walk, I kept asking myself if I have the same faith and commitment to different things in my life. Am I as committed to raising my children to be the best possible citizens they can be, despite the hurdles I meet? Am I putting all I have got even on weary and tiring days to do my work in the office and out of it, well? Am I waking up each day with a purpose to be the wife my husband needs me to be? Am I living out my faith the way I should? 

All this made me reflect on why I do what I do, and how I do it. If these people can subject their bodies and minds to long hours on the road, under the heat of the sun, or the coldness of the rain and night; if they can press on despite narrow roads, terrible drivers, impatient boda riders and more; if they can keep praying, keep singing, keep encouraging each other, because they know the goal they want to achieve, then I too can determine to put in the work to achieve the goals I have set for myself. 

I have decided to make these normal and ordinary people, doing an amazing thing, a reference point for me. Each time I see a hurdle or obstacle come my way and feel stuck, I shall remember the bravery and resilience of the pilgrims and encourage myself that I too, with faith in God can surmount what I face.

Talking of lessons learnt, last weekend saw me watch a couple of movies that left my head buzzing. I do not know about you, but for me, a movie is not just the imagination of someone’s story or idea come to life on the screen. A movie is meant to be a lesson, an education, an experience. I feel I must walk away from each with a new perspective. 
So I finally watched A Jazzman’s Blues, produced and directed by Tyler Perry. It had sat pretty, waiting for me to watch it and I finally allowed myself to put my feet up and do so. This is a movie very different from what we are used to getting from Perry, and aptly suggested by The Guardian as his magnum opus. 

A movie about race, family secrets and troubles, and a little music, it has so many wonderful things going for it, but this is not a movie review so I will not dwell on what it was about. I walked away from the sitting room when I was done watching, feeling haunted about what racism can do, pained about the lengths relatives will go in hurting others to get what they want, and yet humbled by how far people will go for those they love. It reminded me to be conscious of where I might be treating people unfairly or with a biased mind, even unknowingly, and to be the best version of myself even to those who might seemingly not deserve it.

I also took our younger one out for a movie date and The Little Mermaid it was. I really wanted to stay in on Sunday afternoon after church and a heavy lunch, but her earlier admission that one of the reasons she wanted to watch it was because the mermaid is black, was enough to get me off my lazy bones and head out. 

I always ask the children what they learn from each movie they watch. I am yet to hear her lessons, and while this one was not as gripping as A Jazzman’s Blues, what I clearly picked was that it is possible to live in harmony with people who are very different from us. We just need to give each other a chance. And grace. Lots of grace.