Adisu had gone without food for days. When he developed severe gastritis, he felt he couldn't endure it any longer. This led to an attempt to take his own life. Discovered in a critical condition, he was swiftly taken to the hospital. He didn't have a mother or father...

Three years ago, we shared this story about the dangers of sexual assault that women and girls face working in dumpsites. Kathleen, a good friend to this organization and to me, who also happens to run a trucking company, asked how she could help. My daughter, Julia,...

Working with our Samaritan Scholars, the team and I see how vital it is for them to stay in school. We want the best for them, so we encourage them to keep studying and working to achieve their goals, no matter what obstacles they have to climb. Then, as so often...

Our team meeting this past week was a tough one. Each week, we discuss the 100 or so “connections'' that our team members recorded the week before about their one-on-one meetings with our Samaritan Scholars or their parents around the world. These conversations tend...

Working as our Program Director in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, I regularly see one of the worst forms of child labor: children working in garbage dumps. And yet I also get the chance to tell students, in person, that there's another way. By studying and working hard at...

In just about every big city, a 40 under 40 list is published each year to recognize 40 people under the age of 40 who accomplished something special that year. It’s supposed to be a big deal, but is it really? Heck, you can do so many things under 40. Do something...

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...

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...

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...

“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...