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...

“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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

Living in China in the 1950’s, a boy named Zhiying and his siblings were forced to raise themselves after Mao Zedong sentenced their parents to a forced labor camp. Zhiying recalls being 5 or 6 years old at the time and struggling to figure out how to survive with no...