Life Camp
Last week, our team in Uganda brought together 85 Samaritan Scholars, ages 7 to 23, for a three-day boot camp under the theme, “Growing Through Life – Learning, Reflecting, and Connecting.” From the moment the scholars arrived, there was an air of excitement. We...
Finding Her Path
Life is not easy for mothers like Kendy. She lives in the El Buen Samaritano community next to the city garbage dump in Teguicgalpa, Honduras. Here, most of the homes are led by single women.* After losing her job and not being able to find another one, Kendy has...
A Mother to Children at the Dump
In the heart of Nairobi, Kenya, lies the Dandora dumpsite, one of Africa's largest landfills. It's not just a place of discarded waste but a daily battleground for survival for many, especially children. Young boys and girls, often out of school due to financial...
Weigh the Evidence
Over the last few weeks, you may have read in these Weekend Reflections about how the Resurrection is being celebrated across the world, from bringing food to the elderly in Ethiopia to flower-filled streets in Guatemala to fasts in Jamaica. Last Saturday, even a...
Expressions of Easter
In Jamaica, the Easter season starts with a public holiday on Ash Wednesday. For our program director in Jamaica, Sonja Robinson, and her family, that Ash Wednesday church service is the first of many they’ll attend during Lent. “It’s a very religious time for us,”...
A Holy Procession
In my home in Guatemala, Holy Week doesn’t start on the calendar, it begins with a scent. My mom always says her favorite childhood memory of Holy Week, Semana Santa, is the smell of corozo and incense. It's a fragrance found in streets adorned in purple and visits to...
Sharing Easter
Zenebe grew up with his parents, aunt, sister, and brothers in a one-room rented home. They had to walk to a community bathroom. They didn’t have beds, so they spread cardboard on the floor to sleep on. Despite their extremely limited finances, Easter was always a...
It’s Never too Late
Growing up, Sonia would wake in the early morning hours, and instead of heading to school, she'd walk for about 45 minutes to get to the city landfill. Day after day, sunshine or rain, she was at the garbage dump in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, collecting all kinds of...
Unstoppable Moms
Villa Guadalupe is home to more than 1,000 people. This area was once part of the capital city’s dumpsite, and it is where our Samaritan Scholars and their families live. Most of the parents of our scholars previously earned their living by working at the open-air...
A True Neighbor
In the heart of Apartama, a neighborhood next to a city garbage dump in Ethiopia, one woman stands as a beacon of hope, strength, and constant care—Yeshi. Her presence is not just felt but deeply respected, a rare feat in a patriarchal society where women’s leadership...
The Gift of Shoes
Clothes were becoming a big deal for me as a sixth grader at St. Scholastica on Detroit’s northwest side in the early 1980s. Our school had gone from mostly white to mostly black over the previous two years, and I was doing my best to keep pace. I let go of my Gordon...
Sisterhood at the Dumpsite
Making friends is very noble. Maintaining the friendship despite all odds is loyalty. The story of Regina and Sarah epitomizes true friendship, showcasing the essence of "a friend in need is a friend indeed." Regina and Sarah have been neighbors and co-workers at the...
