KATONDA:
The Uganda Martyrs Story

“The Blood of the Martyrs is the seed of our faith”

Every summer, millions of African pilgrims spend weeks on foot marching to the Shrine of the Uganda Martyrs, located in Kampala, Uganda. In the days leading up to June 3rd, the hundreds of acres surrounding this shrine become a place of immense reverence and celebration as the African people sing, dance, worship and pray in remembrance of the Uganda Martyrs.

Led by 24-year-old African Catholic convert, Charles Lwanga in 1886, the sacrifice made by these martyrs ignited a Christian revolution across the entire face of the African continent — Now the most Christian populated continent in the world.

Lwanga’s story is one of unimaginable courage and self-sacrifice. I knew I wanted to write a screenplay about this young man — highly intelligent and a gifted wrestler — who gave up his life to protect young servants from pedophiles who sat on the village’s royal court.

Themes of sacrifice, suffering and surrender inspire me as a filmmaker. I have experienced the darkness and beauty wrought by suffering in the lives of my family members, and myself. My struggles with sexuality require me to wake up every day and choose God’s calling on my life over my own desires. By dying to self, we are offered a greater perception of God’s truth.

St. Charles Lwanga’s living example of sacrificial love inspired me to travel to Uganda and experience the Martyr’s Day Festival firsthand. The video you see here is just a snippet of the story that I discovered in my time in Uganda. This is just the beginning of an exciting new documentary film that I am developing to cover the story of these pilgrims on their journey to the shrine — capturing their faith their joy and their unmatched happiness in simply celebrating the lives of the martyrs.