Sam Ssemaganda

Sam Ssemaganda is a Ugandan journalist and founder of BlackCandle Media. He was born the morning after his father's death. As a boy, Sam watched his single mother suffer severe violence at the hands of his relatives in a community characterized by perpetual violence against women and girls. At the age of 15, he lost his mother to HIV/AIDS during the toughest era for the disease in the country. These events have informed Sam’s unstoppable commitment to raising his voice on matters of health, youth, and women and girls' rights, and shaped him into a poet changemaker. He overcame childhood trauma, and relentlessly questions women's plight in a patriarchal society. He now lives a life dedicated to using his male voice to champion women's rights and writing to right the wrongs in society.