Pork and beer business is picking up at Namugongo Martyrs Shrine ahead of the Martyrs Day celebrations set for this Saturday June 3rd 2017. Several traders are already cashing in on the early pilgrims, but say they expect to make huge sells as more pilgrims arrive.
Howwe.Biz visited Namugongo and found hundreds of cloth dealers along the road adjacent to the shrines, vendors selling rosaries and other Catholic Church materials were also sighted.
Several food vendors have also set up stalls to offer affordable meals to the pilgrims. A plate of food in the makeshift restaurants costs between Shilling 4000 and Shillings 5000 with meat while food with beans or groundnuts sauce costs between Shillings 3000 to 3,500.
Some of the pilgrims describe the food prices as fair, saying they don't expect them to go up. Sam Mwesigye, a pilgrim from Kabale diocese said he budgeted to Shillings 6000 for meals daily. He will be taking one meal and breakfast in the morning.
Hoima diocese will lead this year's celebration on behalf of the ecclesiastic province of Mbarara Arch diocese. This year's celebration is under the theme “stand firm in the faith that we have been taught.” The theme is drawn from Corinthians Chapter 2, verse 7. Over 800 pilgrims have already arrived at Namugongo.
These include pilgrims from Hoima Diocese who arrived in the wee hours of today. Traffic police unit is meeting organizers to harmonize on traffic flow.
