Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Dignity
In overlooked corners of the world, women who have been sorting through garbage for years are beginning to imagine a different life. As the United States celebrates its 250th birthday, I've been reflecting on the American Dream: the conviction that people can work,...
Facing Our Giants Together
Faith and Community at a Dumpsite in Honduras I recently watched the movie Facing the Giants with a group of men in a new Bible study we started here in the El Buen Samaritano community, located next to the dumpsite in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. At this meeting, we were...
Uncovering Greatness
Education Provides a Path Out of Poverty We met Alex at the dumpsite in Kenya. At age 13, Alex would see us and hide. We learned he was born and raised in a slum right next to the dumpsite. Every morning, he would head to the dumpsite to collect recyclables to sell....
Finding Dignity
A Kenyan Mom's Story of Economic Empowerment Meet Marcella, a single mother of four. She lives about 400 meters from the Dandora dumpsite in Kenya, where she also works. Four years ago, Marcella walked away from her marriage, finally determined she would no longer...
Strength To Rise
Every year, we set aside a day to celebrate our scholars and recognize their journey, their growth, and the future they are building. This year, at the Samaritan Family Life Centre in Uganda, it seemed that things shifted, and we got a chance to see who our scholars...
Shaping Her Future
It's another stifling hot day at the dumpsite in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in 2021. Nayely, just 20 years old, carefully places her baby, Jasiel, in a cardboard box—the safest spot she can find for him while she searches through trash for anything she can find to sell or...
Just Show Up
I remember the first time I met Trudy Ann, the mother of two of our scholarship students, Kwase and Kalou. It was my first month as Director at International Samaritan Jamaica, and my first general meeting with our families. She spoke with the quiet certainty of a...
We’re Climbing That Mountain?
“After lunch, we should go climb that mountain,” Xavier said to me during our trip together to Honduras last week. “But why?” I protested. “We have so many other things to do.”“Because it’s a challenge, and I think it will be good for the kids to climb to the top and...
A Future Doctor
My name is Douglas, and I'm in my first year of medical school. Ever since I was a child, I've wanted to be a doctor, but my path hasn't been easy. I grew up in the La Chureca landfill in Managua, Nicaragua. I lived in the landfill from birth until I was four, with my...
Where’s the Proof
How do you know if God really raised Jesus from the dead? Last year during Holy Week, I shared my story of weighing the historical evidence and concluding back in 1997 that the Resurrection must be true. But is historical evidence all that matters?Before coming to...
Courage to Play
At the El Buen Samaritano family life center here in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, we now have a soccer court! With that, a simple but powerful question arose: What if we formed a women's soccer team? The women who brought this idea to life are Samaritan scholars, students,...
The “No-Go Zone”
Just a short walk from where Danny grew up in Ethiopia, there is a place most people would never choose to enter: the Kore dumpsite. If you stand at a distance, it looks like smoke, dust, and piles of everything no one wants. For many, it represents dirt and a "no-go...
