Walk into any rugby ground in Kenya and mention the name Nyundo, and chances are players, coaches and fans will immediately know who you are talking about.
For Mwamba RFC prop Kelvin Ochieng Juma, however, the nickname that has become synonymous with his bruising style of play had nothing to do with rugby. Instead, it was born from a childhood scuffle in a school dormitory, years before he ever packed down in a scrum.
Speaking exclusively to Two5four, Juma traced the origins of the name back to his days as a Class Seven pupil at Naivasha Boys Boarding Primary School.
“I got the name Nyundo while I was in Class Seven at Naivasha Boys Boarding Primary. I was sharing a bunker bed with a Class Eight student and one day he was teasing me in a friendly way. I responded with a few punches,” Juma recalled.
“The moment I hit him, he said the blows landed as hard as a hammer and suggested that I should be called Nyundo. That made me even madder, so I continued punching him. But the more I resisted the name, the more everyone embraced it.”
It didn’t take long for the nickname to spread.
“What started in the dormitory soon found its way into the classroom and eventually the entire school. At some point, no one remembered my actual name. Everyone simply called me Nyundo.”
The nickname followed him into high school.
When he joined Njoro Boys High School, he reunited with students who had also attended Naivasha Boys Boarding Primary, and they continued calling him Nyundo. By then, the name had become part of his identity.
As he began playing rugby, many assumed the nickname had been inspired by his aggressive playing style.
“I wasn’t getting much game time then, but whenever I got a chance I was running hard and hitting hard. People naturally thought that’s why I was called Nyundo.”
After leaving Njoro Boys, Juma transferred to Ambira High School, where he met yet another former schoolmate from Naivasha.
“He continued calling me Nyundo and everyone else believed it came from rugby because of the way I played.”
The pattern continued at MMUST, where familiar faces from both primary and high school ensured the nickname never faded.
“I found people I’d studied with before and they kept calling me Nyundo. The rugby part of it also reinforced the name because of how I played.”
Juma laughs when recalling how the nickname even sparked jokes off the field.
“Some ladies even came up with their own ideas. They thought if I was hitting that hard on the rugby pitch, maybe I was doing the same somewhere else,” he joked.
Since joining Mwamba RFC in 2021, Juma has become a cornerstone of the club’s forward pack. His powerful ball carries, relentless defence and physical presence have helped make him one of the team’s most dependable players.
His biggest reward came last month when he played a pivotal role in helping Mwamba secure promotion back to the Kenya Cup, restoring one of Kenya’s most historic clubs to the top flight.
Looking back on the promotion campaign, the prop admits the journey came with valuable lessons.
“It has been quite interesting. The first game was fun, the second game was disastrous, but that’s when we realised that although we had come from the big leagues, these so-called smaller teams also had a point to prove, especially against us.”
“But generally, I enjoyed the journey, especially the victories and finally earning promotion back to the Kenya Cup.”
Today, almost everyone in Kenyan rugby knows him as Nyundo. Ironically, a nickname that many believe was earned through his thunderous tackles and crushing scrums was actually born from a childhood dormitory fight. More than a decade later, the name remains as solid as the man who carries it.
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