Over 200,000 stock up on holy water from Mukajanga's well in two days

At least two hundred thousand people have so far queued and fetched blessed water from Mukajanga's well at Namugongo Anglican shrine since Thursday June 31. Three hundred thousand more are expected to fetch the holy water in the next 24 hours, according to officials at the Anglican shrine.

The well at the Anglican shrine is the spot where the king's executioner, Mukajanga and his staff washed their bloody hands after killing the martyrs.
Ordinant Samuel Olaka, one of the clergymen who have been at the well praying for the faithful since Thursday, said most of the people who fetch the water here are from the Catholic faith because of the adoration and veneration that Catholics accord to the canonised martyrs.

"This water is believed to have cleansing powers because of its connection to the saints. That's why people can stand in line for hours just to have a few litres of the precious water," says Samuel Olaka.

He said that pilgrims who put their faith in Jesus Christ and not just the water get their prayers answered.
Samuel added that most of the pilgrims will not have the opportunity to get the water because the well can only serve a limited number of people at a time.

At any one time on Friday night, at least 500 people were seen standing in the queue between 9 pm and 2am. That number continued going up and by 7am, Saturday morning, the number was over 1000 in the queue. This number was ferociously going up by press time.

Dozens of business people have camped at the entrance of the Anglican shrine to cash in on the demand for plastic containers. The prices range from as low as 500 shillings for a half litre container, to as high as 10000 for a 20 litre jerrycan.

Rev Henry Segawa, the vicar of the Uganda Martyrs Church at the Anglican shrine said that the water from this well has always been on high demand during the Uganda Martyrs pilgrimage.

"Although all martyrs (both the Anglican and Catholics) were canonised by the Vatican, the water from our premises matters most to our Catholic neighbours because of their strong attachment to saints. We therefore respect that tradition and have since adjusted access to the well to allow them fetch water even while we are having our Marty's Day celebrations on June third. The fetching goes on nonstop day and night and we do everything in our ability to give them unlimited access," Rev Segawa said.

He added; "Whoever calls this Nakiyanja seems to imply that this is not the real Namugongo. That is not the case as this was the actual Namugongo grounds where the executions took place. This is the place where 12 of the 22 Martyrs that the Catholic Church canonised were buried. Let's not get confused about this matter."