I am Sammy Ateenyi

Hello - I am Sammy Kyamanyw’Oha Mugasa Ateenyi and I have just started working for ChristmasFuture as the Office Coordinator.

I was born, raised, and got my basic education in Uganda. It was not an easy upbringing. I come from a poor family. I was abused by my step-mother and father as a child. I was independent when I was nine years old. My first job was to distribute relief items to refugees in my district. From that time, I have loved working with vulnerable populations.

We had to leave Uganda many years ago. When I came to Sudan, I worked for NGOs in relief item distribution. Some of my duties were to distribute food, clothing, and medicine to internally displaced people because of the war in Sudan. We then had to leave for Egypt. While in Egypt, I worked for refugee programs that provide assistance to refugees. Working with vulnerable populations has shaped my life and how I view the world. Such impact is displayed by what I took at school — Development Studies.

My wife, my three girls and I originally came to Nova Scotia, Canada in November 1997. I studied at Dalhousie University and achieved a BA Honours in Development Studies and a Masters in Policy Analysis (MPA) with a focus in Development Policy. Even with my education it has been very hard finding a job in Canada. That is one of the reasons we moved out of Nova Scotia. We then moved to Calgary in September 2005 after my six years of study.

Among the many reasons I joined ChristmasFuture is the notion of contribution to the cause of eradicating poverty for good. Apart from being excited about my work with ChristmasFuture, I want to contribute to the process of eradicating poverty in the world because I believe that poverty can be eradicated if we join hands. Here in Canada I am involved in fundraising activities for orphans in Uganda. Currently I am co-heading a project to persuade Ugandans in Canada to financially support poverty eradication processes in Uganda.

My work with poor people has taught me many lessons, but the most outstanding is this: poverty can be eradicated.

...Sammy