— Welcome to our first-ever
COMMUNITY INTERNS
MEET OLATUNJI (TJ), A Story of Courage, Loss, and the Determination to Build a Better Future
When Olatunji arrived at Working Gear earlier this year, he simply needed a pair of work boots so he could start a construction job while finishing his MBA. He didn’t know that the visit would change the course of his life in Canada, or that he would soon become a Community Intern helping shape programs that support others.
But his journey to that moment began long before Vancouver.
A Childhood Rooted in Service and Purpose
Olatunji was born in the United Kingdom while his parents were studying and working. His father was completing his medical training; his mother was building her career. But his father wanted his children to grow up grounded in their culture and identity, so the family moved back to Nigeria.
As a child, Olatunji admired his father’s work as a doctor and assumed he would follow in his footsteps. Then one day, a close family friend, a pharmacist, shared something that changed his understanding of healthcare:
“A doctor helps one person at a time.
A pharmacist helps hundreds.”
That single moment inspired him to pursue pharmacy, a path focused not just on treating individuals, but on improving systems that affect entire communities.
Read More of Olatunji's Story
A Career Across West & Southern Africa
Olatunji began his career with the World Health Organization, where he saw firsthand how access to medicine shapes public-health outcomes. He then joined Pfizer in Nigeria, deepening his experience in medication access, community outreach, and health systems.
He later worked with AstraZeneca and eventually with Sanofi, first in Côte d’Ivoire and later in Johannesburg, where he helped design and implement childhood vaccination campaigns across Sub-Saharan Africa. His work connected him with ministries of health, public-health teams, and community organizations serving some of the most underserved populations.
A Defining Moment That Became His Life’s Purpose
During his early years in Nigeria, Olatunji witnessed a tragedy that would stay with him forever.
A mother arrived at a clinic with her infant burning with fever. The medication required was simple and inexpensive by Canadian standards, only a few dollars, but in the local system, payment was required before treatment.
The family could not afford it.
Without access to the medication, the baby’s condition deteriorated and, despite the efforts of clinic staff, the child suffered a seizure and passed away.
It was a preventable death, caused not by medical limitations but by a system where access to care depends on the ability to pay.
That moment became the foundation of Olatunji’s commitment to public health, education, and systemic change.
Searching for Stability, and a Future Not Limited by Passport
Despite his expertise, Nigeria’s spiralling inflation made stability impossible. Housing costs doubled. Salaries lost value within months. Friends working full-time struggled to afford basic necessities.
In South Africa, where he continued his vaccine-program work with Sanofi, visas for African professionals were capped at three years with no pathway to permanence.
He worked shoulder-to-shoulder with European and North American colleagues performing the same job, yet earned much less simply because of his passport.
He understood that talent was never the issue.
Recognition, and opportunity, depended on global systems he could not control.
He applied to the MBA program at University Canada West, and was accepted.
A Devastating Loss the Day Before He Left
Olatunji sold everything he owned, prepared his documents, and packed for Canada.
The day before his flight, his mother died unexpectedly.
She had been his greatest supporter, the person who believed in every risk he took, encouraged every dream, and stood by him throughout his journey. Devastated, he didn’t know whether to stay for her funeral or proceed with the opportunity she had urged him to pursue.
He chose what he knew she would want.
Through heartbreak and grief, he boarded the plane.
Starting Over in Canada, And Facing New Barriers
Newcomer life in Vancouver was tougher than anything he expected.
He encountered exploitative housing targeted at newcomers, $2,000 per person to share a single room. His savings disappeared. He studied full-time, worked part-time, and applied to countless jobs.
He finally secured work in construction while completing his MBA, but couldn’t afford the $350 safety boots required to begin.
He had the opportunity. He had the determination.
What he didn’t have was the gear.
Finding Support at Working Gear
When he came to Working Gear, he expected only gear. Instead, he found community, encouragement, and opportunity.
Austin introduced him to the Community Internship Program, a paid internship designed to support job-seekers who bring skill, ambition, and lived experience, but face barriers restarting their lives in Canada.
Bringing Global Experience to Community Work
Olatunji brought global public-health insight, hands-on experience across multiple countries, business training through his MBA, and a deep commitment to helping others. He quickly became an integral part of Working Gear’s operations and program development.
He supports clients, strengthens systems behind the scenes, and contributes his lived experience to help shape programs that are more responsive to newcomers and job-seekers facing similar barriers.
Valedictorian, Dedicated to His Mother
Despite immense loss, financial strain, and rebuilding his life from scratch, Olatunji excelled academically.
He became valedictorian, and his commencement ceremony took place this December 2025.
He dedicated his achievement to his mother, whose belief in him carried him across continents.
Why TJ’s Story Matters
Olatunji embodies everything Working Gear stands for: opportunity, dignity, and the belief that everyone deserves the chance to rebuild.
He dreams of a future where:
- opportunity is not determined by nationality,
- newcomers are not exploited when they arrive,
- access to medicine is universal, and
- housing everywhere is fair, safe, and secure.
Through Working Gear, and through your support, he’s helping build that future for himself and for others.
He came to us for gear.
He stayed to help strengthen a more equitable tomorrow.
Support Olatunji and others like him: Donate Today!
About Ben: A Story of Purpose, Service, and New Beginnings
When you first meet Ben, you notice something rare, a quiet belief that the world can be better, and that each of us has a responsibility to help make it so. That conviction has guided him for his entire life.
Ben grew up in Ghana in a large family shaped by resilience, fairness, and deep community responsibility. Those early experiences led him into a career in social work and humanitarian response, work that would carry him across East and Central Africa and into some of the most challenging environments of our time.
For more than a decade, Ben worked in Rwanda, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Madagascar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, supporting families and communities facing conflict, displacement, discrimination, and disaster. His work included major collaborations with U.S. government development programs, strengthening health and education systems in Ghana and Malawi, and later contributing to emergency coordination during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He served children orphaned by HIV.
He stood with LGBTQ+ individuals facing severe persecution.
He supported sex workers, families fleeing violence, and communities devastated by drought, floods, hurricanes, and tuberculosis.
In places marked by instability, Ben built connection.
In places marked by crisis, he created moments of safety.
And through it all, he focused on possibility, not limitation.
“Service isn’t about rescue,” Ben says. “It’s about believing in what people can become.”
Read More of Ben's Story
A New Beginning for His Family
Ben’s move to Canada wasn’t driven by instability or crisis; it was driven by family. His wife, a dedicated nurse who had been working in Ghana, made the first move to Canada to begin building a stable foundation for their future.
Once she was settled, Ben made the decision to join her. He brought their three children, ages 12, 8, and 4, so the family could finally live together in one place after years of being spread across different countries.
They did not come out of fear, but out of hope.
The Working Gear Turning Point
Starting over in Canada brought challenges Ben never expected. After landing his first job in construction, he was told he would need to pay $1,000 upfront for required safety gear, a cost impossible for a newcomer rebuilding from scratch.
In early 2025, Ben visited Working Gear after seeing one of our posters. He arrived expecting only the basics: boots, a hard hat, rain gear, the items he needed to start working.
But the construction job never called him back.
When Austin learned what had happened, he told Ben about Working Gear’s newly launched paid internship program.
It was one of those rare moments when timing, circumstance, and purpose align: a door closed, and another opened.
Ben began his internship with Working Gear in May 2025.
From his first day, he brought a presence shaped by years of global service, humility, steadiness, compassion, and a remarkable ability to see potential where others might see limitations. He leads quietly, grounded in purpose rather than ego.
As Executive Director, I am incredibly proud of Ben, one of our very first community interns. This pilot project has been transformative for Working Gear: it expanded our capacity, brought invaluable global experience into our organization, and created the opportunity to offer meaningful Canadian job experience to people who are struggling to break through the barriers newcomers often face. And because of our donors’ generosity, we’ve been able to extend Ben’s paid contract into 2026.
A Future Built on Purpose
Ben’s long-term goal is to recertify as a social worker in Canada so he can continue the work he has dedicated his life to: building communities where everyone has a fair shot at stability, opportunity, and a meaningful future.
Today, Ben is rebuilding his life in Vancouver, jogging in the mornings, exploring parks with his wife and children, reconnecting with the land around him, and creating the stability he once worked so hard to help others find.
Why Ben’s Story Matters
When donors support Working Gear, they do far more than supply boots or jackets.
They create turning points.
They remove barriers.
They make space for people like Ben, people who have spent their lives uplifting others, to continue that work in a new country.
Because of donor generosity, Ben can pursue his purpose here in Canada.
And the impact of his service will ripple outward, to his children, to his new community, and to every person he will one day support.
Support Ben and others like him: Donate Today!
MAILING ADDRESS
For Regular Mail Only – No Clothing Donations
PO Box 88495
Chinatown RPO
Vancouver, BC
V6A 4A7
Working Gear operates on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. As an organization, we are committed to supporting our Indigenous clients, community members and neighbours through our services, and we remain focused on embodying the principles of anti-racism and decolonization in all that we do.