My field name is Nyerology but my real name is Nyero Christopher
I am a Ugandan and I am currently a secondary school student.
I was born in the district of Gulu in northern Uganda in 1991 on 29th January. My mother is Mrs Laryang Juliana and my father is Mr Kolo Bilentino. My mother is the second of my father’s two wives. I am the last born and the youngest.
I was born during a period of war between the Ugandan government and the rebels of Lord’s Resistance Army (the L.R.A) led by Kony Joseph.
My parents left the countryside for Gulu town at a time when the conflict was worsening - rebels had begun killing civilians, abducting young healthy boys to serve as child soldiers, and assaulting women and girls.
Unfortunately my step mother refused to flee to Gulu town, and in 1999, two years after my father and mother had fled the countryside, she was killed with 11 other family members.
The war lasted for more than 25 years and ended in 2005 when peace talks were held. However, the rebel leader Kony went into exile without signing a peace agreement.
Displaced northerners, especially those who were living in the countryside, are now returning back to their villages as they are seeing signs of peace returning to the land. However, the return is complicated by the issue of land rights. There is much dispute over who owns land and many people are making grabs for land that is not theirs.
My parents, like most people in northern Uganda, depend on subsistence farming, but now that they are older farming is difficult for them, especially my father. When I am home I worry when I see them doing physical labour on the land.
When I visit my home, I help with the work on the land. But I also spend time listening to my parents’ stories of the place and its history. They introduce me to relatives and show me places I have forgotten.
I am tall and I am proud of my height. Being tall is unusal south and central Uganda where I have spent my school years, but in the North tallness is common.
HOW I JOINED CHILDREN OF UGANDA
In 1999, after rebels had killed 11 members of my family, Major Kakooza Mutale’s ordered that children whose parents had been killed should be given help. And so in 2000 I was taken to Kampala to the home of Sister Rose Muyinza. Sister Rose founded the organisation Daughters of Charity [http://www.uccf.org/], which is now a partner with the international charity Children of Uganda. I still remember the lovely Christmas I had in Kampala that year.
MOTHER KEVIN PRIMARY SCHOOL
In 2001, I was taken to Kiwanga home near Kampala and I completed my primary schooling at Mother Kevin Primary School where my best friends were Agaba Nicholas and Ntege Andrew.
The home administrator, Mrs Serwanga Rhita, was a lovely lady who was good at her job and used to listen to our views and problems. She is now somewhere else and we miss her so much. But life has to go on - nothing can be done.
I love sport so what follows is a bit about sports I have played and how I have learnt to play them.
When the basketball court was built in 2001, my friends and I had little interest in playing. Instead we would play soccer, which I am good at, on the basketball court. At Mother Kevin Primary, my soccer nickname was Ata’a for being good midfielder, and whenever a team was being formed, they would scramble to have me on the team. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case!
Uncle Richard, who works for Children of Uganda, used to be on the National Basketball team and he started training my friends and I. Slowly, I began to learn how to play basketball, learning from Uncle Richard the rules and regulations that govern the game. By the time I was in my seventh year of primary school I was good at it.
In 2006, I did my Primary Leaving Examination (P.L.E) and passed it with a second grade.
LORD’S MEADE VOCATIONAL COLLEGE.
In 2007 I began my first year of secondary school, S.1, at Lord’s Meade Vocational College[ http://www.lordsmeade.org/], which is also in Mukono district. Lord’s Meade is also close to Jinja district which contains the Nile Beer Brewery, the Nightile factory, and of course the lovely scenery of the river Nile, with Owen Falls dam close by.
At the end of every term, which was always on a Friday, we would be let out of school early so that we could go touring the river Nile and other beautiful places before Uncle Richard would arrive to take us back to our homes for the holidays.
At Lord’s Meade, Ssebadduka John Paul, Mubiru Francis (both hockey players), Tizzo, Cool.B, Juba Charles, Odoi Samuel, and Egunyu Lampard (a basketball player) were my friends.
I was in the school basketball team as well as the junior cricket team. One day after school, while I was still new at the school, I was playing soccer and cricket coach Mulogo Jude (the uncle of Juba Charles) caught sight of me me as he was training the cricket team. He came over to and said ‘’Hey giant boy, come here. Have you ever played cricket? I replied, “No sir”. He said “Okay, now go and try it”. After I had bowled, batted and fielded in front of him, he said ‘‘You are a quick learner. Don’t go back to soccer, you should be here. Your height is good for cricket, volleyballand basketball”. And he continued training me in bowling and batting.
After two days, I went back to playing soccer but Mulogo Jules came for me and put me in the junior cricket team. Although junior cricketers did not play in tournaments, we travelled with the senior team and so I got to watch my first ever cricket tournament. At that tournament, the school lost by only three points.
Mulogo Jules didn’t know, however, that I was already good at basketball. When I was in the basketball team, he came to me and said ‘’My Cricketer, now you have decided to join the basketball team and leave my team’’. “No sir”, I said
In 2007, the school participated in a basketball tournament held at Lake View Senior Secondary School in Jinja. The Lord Meade’s team trained for five days straight. Our coach was tough on us and I grew tired quickly as this was the first real training session I had ever done. I had such pain in my muscles that I dodged one session of training. But despite that I was picked for the tournament. My name was the fourth to be read out for the line up. Our captain, Juba Charles, was quite tall but not as tall as me. I was nicknamed Lewis Bryant for my good passes, shoots and dribbles.
Playing the tournament was the highlight of my basketball career. I was very nervous when I due to play because it was my first time in a real tournament. Even thought the player voted best of the tournament, Odoi Samuel, was on my team, we didn’t play well.
MBUYE FARM SCHOOL AND SABINA HOME.
I completed only one year at Lord’s Meade, before I was transferred to Mbuye Farm School in 2008, which is in Rakai district. Rakai is five districts south of Mukono.For more link:www.mbuye.net
Sport is not a strength of Mbuye Farm School. My skills in basketball stagnated as it was not played at the school.
At Mbuye, my best friends were Tanzanians, including Rigobert Rwewubizza and Florian Rwegoshorah, who was a talented footballer. My Ugandan friends were Sozzi Brian, Mukesi Ali, Twahah Kaddu Rwaga, Jumba Joseph, Kaluhanga Louse and Mugarura Charles. Mrs Kizito Roselyn Ssali, the Depurty Principal become my great friend as well. If you are wondering why girls are not among my friends, you may as well know that I am still quite shy around them and do not yet speak with them much.
At Mbuye, I had many nicknames, including the Engineer [because i did brick and concrete laying course], the Prophet, Alvin[movie actor], the Doctor, the Secretary, My daughter, Odongo Otto, and American Height[for being tall].
While in Mbuye Farm School, I began to spend my short holidays at Sabina Home in the nearby town of Ssanje. In the long holidays I would push home to Gulu.
At Sabina I acquired more interest in farming because there I helped on the Sabina Permaculture Project:http://childrenofuganda-
At Sabina mynicknames are Permaculturist and Inspector.
In this blog,I will be writing about my life, including friends and family, special projects and interests such as permaculture and building, as well as art, work and achievements.
'Nyerology' - it really means "the world according to Nyero".
I am a Ugandan and I am currently a secondary school student.
I was born in the district of Gulu in northern Uganda in 1991 on 29th January. My mother is Mrs Laryang Juliana and my father is Mr Kolo Bilentino. My mother is the second of my father’s two wives. I am the last born and the youngest.
I was born during a period of war between the Ugandan government and the rebels of Lord’s Resistance Army (the L.R.A) led by Kony Joseph.
My parents left the countryside for Gulu town at a time when the conflict was worsening - rebels had begun killing civilians, abducting young healthy boys to serve as child soldiers, and assaulting women and girls.
Unfortunately my step mother refused to flee to Gulu town, and in 1999, two years after my father and mother had fled the countryside, she was killed with 11 other family members.
The war lasted for more than 25 years and ended in 2005 when peace talks were held. However, the rebel leader Kony went into exile without signing a peace agreement.
Displaced northerners, especially those who were living in the countryside, are now returning back to their villages as they are seeing signs of peace returning to the land. However, the return is complicated by the issue of land rights. There is much dispute over who owns land and many people are making grabs for land that is not theirs.
My parents, like most people in northern Uganda, depend on subsistence farming, but now that they are older farming is difficult for them, especially my father. When I am home I worry when I see them doing physical labour on the land.
When I visit my home, I help with the work on the land. But I also spend time listening to my parents’ stories of the place and its history. They introduce me to relatives and show me places I have forgotten.
I am tall and I am proud of my height. Being tall is unusal south and central Uganda where I have spent my school years, but in the North tallness is common.
HOW I JOINED CHILDREN OF UGANDA
In 1999, after rebels had killed 11 members of my family, Major Kakooza Mutale’s ordered that children whose parents had been killed should be given help. And so in 2000 I was taken to Kampala to the home of Sister Rose Muyinza. Sister Rose founded the organisation Daughters of Charity [http://www.uccf.org/], which is now a partner with the international charity Children of Uganda. I still remember the lovely Christmas I had in Kampala that year.
MOTHER KEVIN PRIMARY SCHOOL
In 2001, I was taken to Kiwanga home near Kampala and I completed my primary schooling at Mother Kevin Primary School where my best friends were Agaba Nicholas and Ntege Andrew.
The home administrator, Mrs Serwanga Rhita, was a lovely lady who was good at her job and used to listen to our views and problems. She is now somewhere else and we miss her so much. But life has to go on - nothing can be done.
I love sport so what follows is a bit about sports I have played and how I have learnt to play them.
When the basketball court was built in 2001, my friends and I had little interest in playing. Instead we would play soccer, which I am good at, on the basketball court. At Mother Kevin Primary, my soccer nickname was Ata’a for being good midfielder, and whenever a team was being formed, they would scramble to have me on the team. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case!
Uncle Richard, who works for Children of Uganda, used to be on the National Basketball team and he started training my friends and I. Slowly, I began to learn how to play basketball, learning from Uncle Richard the rules and regulations that govern the game. By the time I was in my seventh year of primary school I was good at it.
In 2006, I did my Primary Leaving Examination (P.L.E) and passed it with a second grade.
LORD’S MEADE VOCATIONAL COLLEGE.
In 2007 I began my first year of secondary school, S.1, at Lord’s Meade Vocational College[ http://www.lordsmeade.org/], which is also in Mukono district. Lord’s Meade is also close to Jinja district which contains the Nile Beer Brewery, the Nightile factory, and of course the lovely scenery of the river Nile, with Owen Falls dam close by.
At the end of every term, which was always on a Friday, we would be let out of school early so that we could go touring the river Nile and other beautiful places before Uncle Richard would arrive to take us back to our homes for the holidays.
At Lord’s Meade, Ssebadduka John Paul, Mubiru Francis (both hockey players), Tizzo, Cool.B, Juba Charles, Odoi Samuel, and Egunyu Lampard (a basketball player) were my friends.
I was in the school basketball team as well as the junior cricket team. One day after school, while I was still new at the school, I was playing soccer and cricket coach Mulogo Jude (the uncle of Juba Charles) caught sight of me me as he was training the cricket team. He came over to and said ‘’Hey giant boy, come here. Have you ever played cricket? I replied, “No sir”. He said “Okay, now go and try it”. After I had bowled, batted and fielded in front of him, he said ‘‘You are a quick learner. Don’t go back to soccer, you should be here. Your height is good for cricket, volleyballand basketball”. And he continued training me in bowling and batting.
After two days, I went back to playing soccer but Mulogo Jules came for me and put me in the junior cricket team. Although junior cricketers did not play in tournaments, we travelled with the senior team and so I got to watch my first ever cricket tournament. At that tournament, the school lost by only three points.
Mulogo Jules didn’t know, however, that I was already good at basketball. When I was in the basketball team, he came to me and said ‘’My Cricketer, now you have decided to join the basketball team and leave my team’’. “No sir”, I said
In 2007, the school participated in a basketball tournament held at Lake View Senior Secondary School in Jinja. The Lord Meade’s team trained for five days straight. Our coach was tough on us and I grew tired quickly as this was the first real training session I had ever done. I had such pain in my muscles that I dodged one session of training. But despite that I was picked for the tournament. My name was the fourth to be read out for the line up. Our captain, Juba Charles, was quite tall but not as tall as me. I was nicknamed Lewis Bryant for my good passes, shoots and dribbles.
Playing the tournament was the highlight of my basketball career. I was very nervous when I due to play because it was my first time in a real tournament. Even thought the player voted best of the tournament, Odoi Samuel, was on my team, we didn’t play well.
MBUYE FARM SCHOOL AND SABINA HOME.
I completed only one year at Lord’s Meade, before I was transferred to Mbuye Farm School in 2008, which is in Rakai district. Rakai is five districts south of Mukono.For more link:www.mbuye.net
Sport is not a strength of Mbuye Farm School. My skills in basketball stagnated as it was not played at the school.
At Mbuye, my best friends were Tanzanians, including Rigobert Rwewubizza and Florian Rwegoshorah, who was a talented footballer. My Ugandan friends were Sozzi Brian, Mukesi Ali, Twahah Kaddu Rwaga, Jumba Joseph, Kaluhanga Louse and Mugarura Charles. Mrs Kizito Roselyn Ssali, the Depurty Principal become my great friend as well. If you are wondering why girls are not among my friends, you may as well know that I am still quite shy around them and do not yet speak with them much.
At Mbuye, I had many nicknames, including the Engineer [because i did brick and concrete laying course], the Prophet, Alvin[movie actor], the Doctor, the Secretary, My daughter, Odongo Otto, and American Height[for being tall].
While in Mbuye Farm School, I began to spend my short holidays at Sabina Home in the nearby town of Ssanje. In the long holidays I would push home to Gulu.
At Sabina I acquired more interest in farming because there I helped on the Sabina Permaculture Project:http://childrenofuganda-
At Sabina mynicknames are Permaculturist and Inspector.
In this blog,I will be writing about my life, including friends and family, special projects and interests such as permaculture and building, as well as art, work and achievements.
'Nyerology' - it really means "the world according to Nyero".
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