John Bosco’s Story

As told by older brother Tikol:

As told by John Bosco’s big brother Tikol: “John Bosco was born in Lorendechora, Karamojoa region of Northeastern Uganda. The Karamojong are a nomadic tribe moving with the seasons and raising cattle for a living. Being close to the border of Sudan and Kenya, automatic weapons became common to protect cattle and families from raids by rebels. Our father was killed in one of these raids when all of us children were young. Losing him changed the family so much.

In 2009, our mother fell ill and a short while later she died. This made my brothers and I total orphans. After the death of our mother, John Bosco and brother Ilukol went to live with our grandmother. At the ages of 3 and 5, the boys would go to the fields with grandmother to work so they could have some food for the day. Neither studied as it wasn’t a possibility and they didn’t have hope that it would ever happen for them. Meeting the basic needs of food and water was a struggle and they often went without these things.

In 2013, Peace for Paul came to rescue John Bosco and brothers Daniel and Ilukol. They are all now studying at good schools and performing very well. They are healthy and happy and so grateful for the opportunity they have been given. John Bosco is a very high performer in school, and is almost always the top student in his class. He wants to become a pilot one day so he can transport people across the world. 

In the words of John Bosco, “Everything has changed and new to me because I am no longer the other John Bosco I used to be. I now can express myself in the English language, which I had no clue about before. Thanks I give back to all who helped me out of that situation because I can’t imagine where I would be. I was nobody and now I am somebody. Thank you so much.”