Meet Losseny Samake

Founder and CEO of the Mariam & Aliayh Foundation

Losseny was raised in the same conditions he is committed to changing. Being a native of West Africa’s Ivory Coast, extreme poverty and lack of resources for a sustainable life was and is a common circumstance for children, women, and families alike. Growing up, with the little he did have, his mother and grandmother (pictured below) instilled the values of kindness and sharing, giving to your neighbor, and changing the world through one good deed at a time. He made it a daily goal to act in kindness, whether it is sharing his clothes, food, or money with children and women in his village to performing physically difficult tasks for elders. 

Losseny, much like every child, had dreams and passions for life outside of his circumstances. In particular, basketball became a calling he could not ignore. He practiced daily in conditions far from a comfortable court, with proper sports equipment. His dedication led him to be scouted and then recruited to play professionally in the United States. During his career, his passion took a turn when he injured his wrists and he found himself specializing in Marketing and the hospitality business. However, his ability to execute on and off the court, and be a team player never left him. After over a decade of building a life in the United States, Losseny's life changed forever when his mother Mariam passed away in 2019. He returned to the Ivory Coast, which he called home for most of his life, and witnessed once more that the conditions he grew up him have not changed. 

It was on his mother Mariam’s resting day he discovered what the focus of his contribution will be. On a dusty desert-like road he passes by an older woman who was struggling to levy up water from a hole dug in the ground to make a makeshift well. Losseny rushed over and immediately helped her bring up several buckets of filthy, yellow-tinted water. He realized this was the same water he was raised drinking, his mother, the children, and the elders of the village all depended on this poor supply of water. 

After laying his mother to rest, Losseny returned to States, amid the welcoming of his daughter Aliyah to the world, he birthed a plan to change the conditions of his home back in the Ivory Coast. Through hard work and dedication to the commitment of this, he began funding, planning, and executing the creation of water pumps and pipes in the village. He began with one underground pump pipe that would supply clean water, however, he realized this was not sufficient to keep up with daily use.

His second project included an above-ground water supply and was much larger to supply the entire village with sufficient amounts of water daily all of which was clean. He also installed solar panels in various areas of the village to help supply energy to these pumps, along with several kilos of rice for the villagers to restock with.

In the third project, he brought another above-ground well, to supply another village that needed a clean supply of water. The Mariam and Aliyah Foundation is not only a commitment to supply clean water to communities in need but also to give back all needed aspects, such as educational systems, construction of roads, and schools, creating spaces for women and children in these harsh environments to have a haven. Losseny, with a daughter of his own, is committed to creating an environment in these villages where children will live in better conditions, starting with the first basic need of life: clean water.