From KitweVillage toWriting Code

I was born on a Monday, 14 August 2006, in Kitwe village, Kyerwa District, in Kagera. I'm the second born in our family and the first son.

My dad, Patrick, and my mom, Christer, were both primary school teachers: Dad at Rulama Primary School and Mom at Nyerere Primary School. Life was simple, normal village life. In a teachers' home, school was never far from the dinner table.

I started school in 2011 at Nyerere Primary, the same school where Mom taught. Like every “St Kayumba” kid (that's what we call our local government schools), I learnt everything in Kiswahili. English was a subject, not a language I lived in.

I finished primary school on 6 September 2018. I had no idea how much that English gap was about to cost me.

On 15 September 2018 I joined Katoke Seminary for pre-form one. Overnight, every lesson was in English. Through pre-form one and Form One I fought just to understand my teachers, chasing the 60% average we needed to stay.

In Form Two stomach ulcers started, and the pain followed me until late Form Three. COVID closed schools from March to July 2020. Soon after we returned, in September, just before the Form Two national exam, I was admitted at Bugando Hospital for an endoscopy. I still sat the exam, and scored Division I with 11 points.

Katoke also gave me music: it's where I started learning the piano. And I had Nelius Nickson, more than a friend, who taught me so much and took care of me whenever I was sick.

In April 2021, in Form Three, my time at Katoke came to an end. I had to leave and start again somewhere new.

On 25 October 2022, Dad, Mom, my young brother Alan and my young sister Agape all came to my Form Four graduation. I received certificates for leadership and for academic excellence in Mathematics and Physics. Mom's joy that day is a picture I still carry.

Then the national results came: Division I, 7 points. A boy who once couldn't follow an English lesson was now among the best. That changed how I saw myself.

While waiting for selections, I went back to Kaisho as an intern teacher until after Easter, then did side hustles around home. From June to August I worked far from home with a family research organisation, then freelanced for a mobile network until September.

I had made a choice many people didn't understand: I didn't want A-level. Teachers, parents and relatives said it was a mistake. When selections came, I was chosen for a Diploma in Computer Science at Mbeya University of Science and Technology (MUST), fully government sponsored.

Some said that college was “for students who failed.” I went anyway.

In October 2023 I joined MUST. University freedom was nothing like O-level, and I had to learn to manage everything on my own. I already knew my way around computers, so I stayed curious and busy: repairing computers and installing software and operating systems to survive.

At the hostel I started reselling Wi-Fi. I didn't know then that this small business would carry me through the hardest years of my life.

In my first year I took my work to MAKISATU, the national science, technology and innovation competition, in Morogoro.

I kept going: the second-year field attachment, then third year. As a side job I served as Lead Technical Officer at a tech innovation company, where I learnt a lot about hardware. I presented my work at exhibitions and earned certificates and prizes along the way.

In March 2026 I joined a campus media startup as its technical person. We were paid in shares. I gave it my best, but my family's needs were real, so I resigned to find work that could support them.

In June 2026 I interviewed at a software company in Mbeya and got the job as a Software Engineer while still a student. Thank God. Soon after, I graduated from MUST with my Diploma in Computer Science.