Namugongo ‘Cure Tree’ is Endangered

Countless pilgrims flocked Namugongo Martyrs’ Shrine on June 3, to celebrate the Uganda Martyrs Day. Believers from many countries on the continent, some of whom walked for days, weeks or months, convened to celebrate the commemoration of the 19th century men that were martyred because of their faith.
Guides explain to pilgrims, through the historical significance of the tree froMukajjanga’s command post.

Many Christians visit the Martyrs’ Shrine because they believe that the place is a sort of “God’s miraculous healing referral hospital” where all kinds of diseases can be healed.

This is why many believers and traditional healers carry “holy” water from Namugongo Martyrs’ Lake and tree barks to their homes to get blessings and heal diseases.

However, one of the things that attract people on this day is the Ndazabazadde tree, which intertwined with the original tree on which martyrs were tied and tortured to renounce their faith.
Ndazabazadde is a Luganda word literally meaning “wombs that give birth”.

The tree, standing fifty metres away from the main road and near to what is said to be the compound of Mukajanga, the martyrs chief executioner, has in the past years been visited by pilgrims from all walks of life.

However, the rate at which the tree is being ripped of its bark is worrying church authorities, tourists and environmentalists. They fear that it (new Ndazabazadde) will soon disappear just as the original tree.

The danger is that the tree is being raided and almost phasing out before the authorities plant a similar species to hold the stump that remains peeping. The old tree has been in existence for over 120 years.

“Ndazabazadde faces a lot of environmental degradation whenever we celebrate the Martyrs day on June 3,” Rev. Francis Kajura says.
“We have to employ personnel to keep guard of this place otherwise the tree could be no more as traditional healers disguising as pilgrims come and peel off the bark,” Rev Kajura says.

He says that the surrounding communities and pilgrims struggle to get the bark from the tree assuming it cures a number of illnesses.
According to people who claim to have used the bark to heal sickness, there is no single disease on earth that it cannot cure. Mr Sunday Kakooza says the tree cures demonic related attacks, all types of cancer and brings fortune once water from its bark is drunk or bathed with.

Christians who visited Namugongo Anglican Mukajjanga Shrine on June 3 cutting off the stem cover from the Ndazabazadde tree.

“A piece of the bark attracts good pay from traditional healers and a person in possession of it receives maiden local treatment,” Mr Kakooza says.

Though Rev. Kajura spent most of his time sensitising and denying pilgrims a chance to peel the tree bark during this year’s celebrations, all his efforts were falling on deaf ears.

“It’s your faith that can eliminate disease from your body not this tree bark that you are struggling for,” Rev Kajuura kept on telling the pilgrims.

George William Kyeyune, a student at Namugongo seminary attributes the raid on the species as ignorance for a host of reasons.
“Our people are still primitive to assume that healing power has been passed on to the new tree which has twinned the original stump of Ndazabazade,” he said.

Several attempts have been made by church officials to replant the tree seeds but they do not germinate. Although the Anglican Church raises income from the species, the tree does not have a potential environment security.

Damage caused on the tree stem in the recent past has left it with no healed scars and it may take almost two years for the species to be regained.

Rev. Kajura says the only thing that can save the tree is to fight primitive ideologies engulfing surrounding communities. He suggested that caging Ndazabazadde in the future could prevent people from accessing it.