by Rebekah Murray | Jul 17, 2026 | Weekend Reflections
How Clean Water Access Is Changing Daily Life for Waste-Picker Families in Nairobi, Kenya The families we serve here in Kenya often carry two burdens at once: At work, picking through trash for recyclables, they are exposed daily to toxic waste, dust, and chemicals,...
by Rebekah Murray | Jul 10, 2026 | Weekend Reflections
A Lost Childhood and A Classroom Found “Kids, settle down. Today we are going to look at the Amharic alphabet…” Frehiwot starts her day in Ethiopia with these words. Every time she does, she feels a sense of peace. Her classroom is her heaven. “I have always loved...
by Rebekah Murray | Jul 1, 2026 | Weekend Reflections
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...
by Rebekah Murray | Jun 18, 2026 | Weekend Reflections
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...
by Rebekah Murray | Jun 11, 2026 | Weekend Reflections
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....
by International Samaritan | Jun 8, 2026 | Weekend Reflections
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...
by International Samaritan | May 15, 2026 | Weekend Reflections
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...
by International Samaritan | May 8, 2026 | Weekend Reflections
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...
by International Samaritan | May 1, 2026 | Weekend Reflections
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...
by International Samaritan | Apr 20, 2026 | Weekend Reflections
“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...
