We have a unique gift idea for you to share this Christmas. You can now go to Amazon and buy The School Dress for someone you love. The School Dress is our very first children’s book in the Samaritan Adventure series, with more books to come featuring our scholars as the protagonists and even the illustrators of these stories.

I believe the Holy Spirit gave this idea to Selam Kahsay in Ethiopia as she thought about one of our scholars, Mihretu. His story, and so many others, show the power of resilience, faith, sacrifice, family, friendships, and love.

Our first book in the series stems from my very first phone call seven years ago with Selam Terefe, the founding leader of our mission in Ethiopia, who told me a story about a five-year-old girl named Marege.

Selam is a lawyer who had two young children at home and was looking for a part-time position. After reading our job description online, she went to Kore, the sprawling community surrounding the garbage dump in Addis Ababa, which was then home to 5 million people (and closer to 10 million today). Like most people, she had avoided Kore her entire life because of the odors and reputation associated with it. Kore was a place people did not visit unless they had to.

This illustration in The School Dress shows Selam meeting Marege and her mother at the garbage dump in Kore.

While she was out walking the streets, Selam asked questions of the people she met about what life was like to try to get a better sense of whether she–and we–could help. When she asked little Marege what her dreams for the future were, Marege did not understand the question. 

“Dreams are something I only have at night,” Marege said.

“No,” Selam clarified, “I mean, what do you want to do when you get bigger?”

Marege’s answer changed Selam’s life.

“I don’t want to get bigger,” Marege explained, matter-of-factly. “I live in a very small home underneath some stairs, and the big people in my house are always hitting their heads. I do not want to get big like them.”

Selam told me on that call that she had never seen before how poverty could not just steal dreams, but even children’s desire to grow. She knew at that moment that she wanted to launch our mission to help children like Marege. 

Marege (right) and Selam on my first trip to Ethiopia in December 2018.

Marege is 16 now. She wants to be a doctor and attends Don Bosco, one of the best schools in Ethiopia. The School Dress is the story of how she met Selam, and it features a special link at the back of the book to a webpage with videos we will update from time to time. Children across the world will be able to keep up with Marege and the other heroes in upcoming books who are breaking out of poverty with your support.

Meet Marege and Selam in this video update.

Mike Tenbusch, President

Mike joined International Samaritan in 2018 after two decades of leading social change in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan. He’s a University of Michigan Law grad and author of The Jonathan Effect: Helping Kids and Schools Win the Battle Against Poverty. He and his wife, Maritza, have three children who keep them young.