I AM GOING TO HEAVEN

Tales of history paint the gruesome events that led to the killing of the 22 young men. Kizito, who was 14 years at the time of his execution, is one of the heroic names one comes across when reading through the history of the Uganda martyrs.  Born in 1872 in the village of Waluleeta, Kizito was sent to live with his uncle in the King’s palace at the age of six.  He served Kabaka Mwanga II as a pageboy in the private quarter of the enclosure.  He mostly run errands for the king and his main role was to collect cattle selected for slaughter for the royal table. During those times, families would always give out one of their young children to go work for the Kabaka for free as it was perceived a great honor to serve the king.  They would pick the most hard working and well-behaved children to serve him. This of course would mean great pride and joy for the family, as well as a status elevation from the rest of the community members.

It is said he was a jolly lad who was greatly intrigued by the Christian faith teachings. He often besought Father Lourdel Simeon Mapeera, a French missionary who had come to spread the gospel to the African people, to baptize him but he was always reluctant because of his age. On May 26^th, his desire to be baptized finally came into fruition after Charles Lwanga, one of the Christian leaders, baptized him at night where they were imprisoned by the Kabaka for failure of denouncing their faith in God.  This was just a few days before they were sentenced to death on the third of June.

It was early in the morning when Kizito and the rest of his fellow believers were led to the execution site in Namugongo, several miles away from the palace headquarters. They walked for several days before reaching Namugongo. At each stop over, one of the believers was killed either through being hacked or speared to death. This of course was in a bid to instill fear to the faithfuls and get them to change their minds, but it was to no avail.  As they walked along, they passed by the house of Father Lourdel Simeon Mapeera. Kizito waved goodbye at him and told him that he will be going to heaven.

Now let’s sit back for a second and ponder deeply on what he said. This is someone who was going to be killed gruesomely by being burnt alive, yet to him, all he knew was that he was going to heaven.  Where people would see great pain and suffering, he saw redemption, love, and eternal joy.  This brings us to the ultimate prophetic question, What Do You See?

Years come and years go, yet the enemy never seems to learn.  The mystery of the spiritual law which is a logical paradox is such that when there is an apparent gross darkness upon the earth, that is the time to arise and shine for that is when the light shines even brighter.  The true definition of victory being disguised as defeat. The death of the Uganda martyrs only fueled the spread of Christianity the more. People mused at the courage and knew that if their faith was worth dying for, it was worth having.  And that friends, is how the devil shot himself on the foot.

On his final breathe, Charles Lwanga prayed for forgiveness of his executioners and prophesied that many will come after them (the martyrs). The words of his prophecy came to pass albeit years later.   Africa alone currently has nearly 700 million Christians, a ninety five percent representation of the entire population in the continent.  Therefore brethren, in times of great darkness upon the earth, always remember the light is shining brighter. Everything will always boils down to the ultimate prophetic question, What Do You See?

Written by Shannon Mujera.

The writer is a member of the National Christian Students Association. (NCSA Youth)