This past June was my second time standing in a dumpsite. I never expected it would be so long before I returned on a trip with International Samaritan, but work, family, and life just never seemed to provide the opportunity. My wife and I had just taken our two young daughters on a safari vacation through Africa, and now we were with International Samaritan’s local team, walking through the Dandora dumpsite in Nairobi.

I was shocked to learn that almost a million people live in the Dandora area in and around the dumpsite. There were rows and rows of tiny tin-walled homes with open sewers running through them. The home we were invited in to see was not much larger than a single-car garage, yet we were told that 14 people lived there.  Several of the younger residents sleep on the floor, but during the rainy season water levels can rise 2 to 3 feet deep with the accompanying refuse flowing into and through the home. 

The overpowering smell took me back to an experience 30 years ago.  

During the summer before my senior year at St. John Jesuit High School, I was on a service immersion trip to Guatemala with Fr. Don Vettese and four other fellow students. We had been helping out at an orphanage painting walls, and helping in the garden but on this particular day we were out touring the city and learning about its history. 

A road closure and detour led us along a road at the edge of the city garbage dump. We stopped and got out of our van, shocked to see hundreds of people digging through trash. We found out that they were looking for recyclables, trying to make a few dollars a day by working at the dumpsite.

The odor was horrific. It smelled toxic, like rotting food and animal dung and yet people were there digging through it. Dogs were roaming the site, smoke was billowing from burning piles of garbage and vultures were soaring overhead. 

We couldn’t forget what we saw. Several months later when we were back in school we talked to Fr. Vettese and wrote to the mayor of Guatemala City, whom we had met on our trip. We asked how we could help.

He wrote and said that housing was the most pressing need. We shared our experience with some local philanthropic groups, and Fr. Vettese talked to several of his connected friends, and soon a new nonprofit was born.

Because of our trip three decades ago, Central American Ministries was formed, and later renamed International Samaritan. Upon graduation from St. John’s, I moved away from Toledo for college, and remained on the East Coast for a number of years.  I was only loosely involved with the work that was being done. 

In a chance encounter, I ran into Fr. Vettese in a hotel lobby in Los Angeles. I joined the board in 2012 and began to learn all that International Samaritan had accomplished since 1994. Through my work as a board member, I’ve been able to help direct the organization in its expansion and focus on holistic scholarships.

So this summer, while I was still surprised at what I saw in Kenya, I had an idea of what to expect. My family did not. For my wife and daughters, seeing the depth of the poverty in the Dandora area was truly astonishing. Yet when we met the Samaritan Scholars they were happy, confident, and ambitious, not to mention gracious and welcoming. 

We heard their many stories. Food and water security was a common theme, and adult supervision and guidance were hard to come by before International Samaritan. 

Now, through their holistic scholarships, these students are in school, with their tuition covered, along with uniforms, school supplies, and their basic health and wellness needs. We were able to hear about their future plans and how they are determined to change the course of their lives. They have seen the potential that exists through hard work and study, and each and every one of them are committed to breaking out of the cycle of poverty. 

The challenges in these communities near dumpsites are great. It was easy to see that while we were there. But it also helped solidify in my mind that the model we’ve developed does work and is continuing to work. Through our research, we’re seeing that Samaritan Scholars who graduate from college and trade school earn nearly three times as much as the home in which they grew up. 

I regret that it took me so long to get back to visit the great work that International Samaritan is performing, but I’m also so grateful that I was able to bring my family along to share the experience. It can be hard to believe the stories when they are simply photos in an email, or even a short video. The experience of walking in the shoes of the people we serve is truly eye-opening, and makes every effort well worth it. 

International Samaritan is a Christ-centered organization built on Catholic Social Teaching. Our mission is to walk hand-in-hand with people who live and work in the garbage dumps of developing nations to help them break out of poverty.

We provide holistic scholarships for students from kindergarten through college, and we’re currently supporting nearly 1,000 scholars in Central America, the Caribbean, and East Africa.

Would your church or school group like to partner and travel with us? Learn about our Learn, Serve, Grow program.

Empower our scholars to change their lives. Become a monthly supporter.

Christopher Lindsey, Board Member

Christopher Lindsey is the Head of U.S. Sales for Jane Street’s Institutional Sales & Trading business. He holds a Bachelor of Science and Engineering in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a member of the wrestling team.