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HEAR FROM OUR SCHOLARS

Scholarship Students Worldwide

4 schools of medical care provided on medical missions

Service trips conducted

%

Wealth increase for scholarship graduates

Patients served on Medical Missions

3 service groups can complete a home

FROM OUR VOLUNTEERS

 

I’m so happy that I went on this trip. The joy that people have in Guatemala is incredible. It’s bittersweet: When I went to Guatemala and I was serving people, it was the happiest I’ve ever been in my life, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be that happy again.

Anonymous, Marian High School

GUATEMALA, February 2019

Medical Missions like this allow you to come home and look at your own patients a different way. I think it’s very rewarding, both personally and professionally.

Dr. Harry Carr, M.D.

GUATEMALA, Summer 2017

We did this exercise where we had to buy a week’s worth of groceries on $7, and it was absolutely eye-opening. It was really hard, and what I came up with wasn’t food that I wanted to eat. But that’s the reality for them. I get a Starbucks every morning that costs as much as their food for their whole family for the whole week.

Anonymous, Saint Michael's Catholic Academy

GUATEMALA, January 2019

Full Financial Transparency

We want our supporters to be confident that every dollar that they invest is going toward a good cause. To see our most recent financial documents, click here.

International Samaritan in the News

Learn more about International Samaritan’s press coverage, campaigns, and community involvement.

Note: We are committed to respecting and uplifting our scholars. Due to some stories containing sensitive information, we redact or change the names of the scholars, their parents, their schools, and other details that could compromise their anonymity.

Filling the Gap

A note from Mike …
In our mission to help people break out of poverty, we find it helpful not just to study the causes of poverty but also the causes of prosperity too. Factors ranging from national policy issues to cultural values and local community challenges can all have an influence on our efforts to help our families overcome poverty.

Ethiopia has long intrigued me because of this nation’s approach to provide a free college education to everybody, regardless of one’s background or income level, but only to the very best and brightest. Last year, as an example, only 3.4% of the 12th graders scored high enough to secure admission to a public university.

Dig down deeper in these numbers though, and you’ll find a miracle in them. Of the 15 12th-grade Samaritan Scholars in Ethiopia last year, 10 passed the exam and are in college now, an amazing 67%. In his reflection below, Engidawork Lemma shares one of the reasons our scholars are flying past their peers.

Prior to becoming Samaritan Scholars, many of our students in Ethiopia couldn’t always attend school. They struggled to learn basic English and numeracy skills due to their inability to afford tuition fees at public schools. Now, thanks to your generous support, many of these scholars attend private schools with excellent educational systems. Still, when national assessments revealed gaps in their understanding, especially in mathematics and English, we knew that we needed to do something more than just pay for their school fees. To help fill their academic gaps, we created a tutoring program for younger scholars using the network of our college scholars and graduates. 

One of our tutors is Zenebe, a dedicated scholar in his third year studying software engineering. Zenebe lives in a one-room rented home near the dumpsite with his parents, two siblings, and an aunt. Finances are tight. They sleep on cardboard on the floor. Yet despite their economic challenges, Zenebe has always remained hopeful that he’d be able to complete his studies. He told us the day he became a Samaritan Scholar was the happiest day of his life!

Dawit and friends

Zenebe, in the black jacket, helps train more tutors for the gap-filling program.

Not only has Zenebe been able to pursue his educational dreams, but he continues to give his time and energy to his community. He comes to the Weingartz Family Life Center whenever he has time and asks how he can help. He has become a trusted tutor who personally knows each young scholar and enjoys teaching.

Zenebe and other scholars are working tirelessly to help their young peers improve. During a recent capacity-building training session for gap-filling program tutors, I was inspired by the enthusiasm and dedication shown by Zenebe and his fellow scholars. They used to be simply scholarship recipients. Now they are program leaders and role models. This transformation has given them a newfound sense of joy and fulfillment in serving others, demonstrating that true happiness lies in giving rather than receiving. It also sets up the young people coming behind them to exceed the high bar they have already set, not just for getting a college degree but for making a difference in our community and nation.

Kenya scholars

Zenebe provided a tutorial class to young scholars in Ethiopia.

Kenya scholars

At a training session, older Samaritan Scholars volunteered to tutor young scholars and help fill in their gaps in knowledge.

Engidawork Lemma, Ethiopia
Youth Development Coordinator

Engidawork brings over 15 years of expertise in empowering adolescents and youth through leadership, personal development, reproductive health, and program management. As a dedicated professional, he specializes in facilitating and delivering tailored training for different populations in various educational settings. 

Filling the Gap

A note from Mike ...In our mission to help people break out of poverty, we find it helpful not just to study the causes of poverty but also the causes of prosperity too. Factors ranging from national policy issues to cultural values and local community challenges can...

A Race to Remember

Every year, we host a global 5K run, aiming to raise funds to support education for young scholars. However, in 2023, something extraordinary happened. Amidst the crowd of determined athletes, a young man named Mihretu emerged, not just as a winner but as a star. He...

Now That’s a Trip

This is kind of a big year for International Samaritan. Thirty years ago this summer, we were born out of desperate compassion after a priest driving a car filled with high school students on an immersion trip came across Guatemala City’s garbage dump and stopped to...

Mapping Your Life

In a world brimming with uncertainties, equipping scholars with the tools to navigate their personal and professional journeys is paramount. At the beginning of this year, our team in Jamaica decided to have life mapping and vision board workshops. These workshops...

Line of Sight

“We can care deeply—selflessly—about those we know, but that empathy rarely extends beyond our line of sight.” These words from the 2014 movie Interstellar weren’t just a few seconds of entertainment on a flight back from Honduras earlier this year, but accurately...

Stars of the Show

“What would you like to do for a family day?” I recently asked my 50 Samaritan Scholars in Uganda. Their response was touching: They wanted to see their parents perform for them. Driven by this unique request, our team of dedicated volunteers worked tirelessly for two...

Health Matters

There's a health clinic in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that serves 100,000 people each year, including many of the 10,000 or so people who are the poorest of the poor. These people live in the community called Kore, which surrounds the dumpsite. While serving in this...

Breakdown of a Victory in Detroit

Amidst the wars in the world and the divisiveness within our nation, I’m writing to share some good news this week about a city that has made significant progress in the last 15 years on a problem that plagued it for at least a century before. I’m interested to hear...

To Stay or Cross the Border?

Have you tried to pursue “The American Dream?” I know many people from Honduras who have. This past fall, several of our Samaritan Scholars read a book with a group of people who visited us from Grace Community Church, located in Detroit. The book was Enrique’s...

For the Love of Books

Prepare to be inspired by the incredible story of Dawit, one of our Samaritan Scholars here in Ethiopia. Dawit has not only defied the odds to pursue his own education, but he has shown unwavering dedication to improving access to education in impoverished areas,...

president’s blog

A New Life in the New Year

By Mike Tenbusch | December 28, 2022

Daniel Castelanos has not had an easy life.  He was abandoned at the dumpsite in Tegucigalpa when he was nine years old.  For two years, he slept on a piece of cardboard in the dump and foraged through trash for food to eat each day.  He made flower pots out of old tires that he sold to get by until tragedy struck when he was 11.

Danny recalls, “While I was with my childhood friends waiting for someone to give us something to eat, a dump truck arrived with an amazing haul of food.  I ran ahead of my friends to be able to get the best of it, but it didn’t go well for me.  I fell from the back while the truck was reversing.  The tires ran over me from my feet to my waist.”
 
Suffering from shock, Danny woke up in a hospital with only minor injuries, but still no home to go to.  He asked one of his aunts for help.  She took him in and gave him a job helping her sell tortillas.  A church ministry eventually helped him to finish high school and even start college.  When their funds ran out, we were able to step in and help Danny get through the last three years of university.

For some time now, Danny has been dating his high school sweetheart.  He’s known for a long time that he wants to marry her, but he wanted to prove himself worthy first.  So, the very first thing he did after getting a bachelor’s in business management a few weeks ago was to invite his closest friends to share this moment with him…

Experience this special moment from Danny’s graduation party

Danny and his fiancée, Julissa

The miracle of Danny’s turnaround was supported by complete strangers: People like you who give to our holistic scholarship program for him and 800 scholars last year.  We need some miracles to finish the year well.  Please prayerfully consider giving generously before the year’s end to be a miracle for someone like Danny next year.

Danny with his friends

Danny on graduation day

A New Life in the New Year

By Mike Tenbusch | December 28, 2022 Daniel Castelanos has not had an easy life.  He was abandoned at the dumpsite in Tegucigalpa when he was nine years old.  For two years, he slept on a piece of cardboard in the dump and foraged through trash for food to eat each...

Christ the King!

By Mike Tenbusch | December 21, 2022 When our Board of Trustees voted last January to make “Water” one of our goals for the year, it was a “gulp” moment for us.  We knew that we were going to be stretched and running hard all year long simply to raise the $2.4 million...

What Makes Christmas Special?

By Mike Tenbusch | December 16, 2022 We asked our scholars that question, and thought you might enjoy seeing some of their responses and favorite memories from Christmas... Thank you for being a part of their celebration. If you would like to make a final gift to our...

Confounding Women

By Mike Tenbusch | December 09, 2022 The safety and security of our team leaders have long been a concern of mine.  They walk hand-in-hand with people living in some of the most difficult places on earth—and then make life-altering decisions to award holistic...

I Second that Emotion

By Mike Tenbusch | December 02, 2022 In a letter I mailed to your home last week, I talked about how often I find myself in tears in the course of our mission at International Samaritan.  If you were wondering, “Has Mike just gotten soft?” I wish you had been at our...

A Mother’s Touch

By Mike Tenbusch | November 18, 2022 What would your life be like if you were never able to see your mother in person?  If phone calls were the only way you could speak with her, and you had no recollection of her hugs or touch? On my most recent trip to Honduras, I...

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