An interview with Investment / Compliance Associate Bobby Adusumilli. This interview is part of our Stories of Giving & Achievement Series, highlighting community involvement efforts. If you are interested in learning more about International Samaritan, please visit their website.

Bobby, can you tell us about International Samaritan and their mission?

International Samaritan was started by a group of students and faculty from St. John’s Jesuit High School, which is where I went to high school. In the early 1990s, Father Don Vettese, S.J., helped to lead St. John’s students on annual service trips to Guatemala. These students saw the conditions of how people were living near the garbage dump in Guatemala, which was and still is where a lot of people live.

In contrast to landfills, garbage dumps are dangerous, poorly regulated areas, with trash spilling into the surrounding communities. These garbage dump communities are home to refugees, lepers, abuse victims, orphans, and other extraordinarily vulnerable groups. As a result, the average life expectancy in garbage dump communities is around 35 years old, and the majority of children drop out of school by seventh grade, often in order to work in the garbage dumps to provide for their families.[1]

The St. John’s students wanted to do something to help the people in these communities break the cycle of generational poverty, and Father Vettese challenged them to create a plan. Together in 1994, they created International Samaritan, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is working to break the chains of poverty and improving lives, particularly within garbage dump communities, where an estimated (probably significantly underestimated) 15 million people are confirmed to live worldwide. International Samaritan does this in a few primary ways, tailoring services to each community:

Holistic scholarships for students from preschool through college, helping to cover school fees, medical expenses, and other living expenses so that students don’t have to drop out of school.
Support schools so that they can operate efficiently and hire excellent staff.
Safe water and safe spaces for students, their families, and community members.
Build homes for families that don’t have them through volunteer work and contracting local businesses.
Strategic partnerships with local leaders to identify and serve community needs.

Originally focusing on Guatemala, International Samaritan now works within 7 communities / countries: Ethiopia, Guatemala, San Pedro Sula in Honduras, Tegucigalpa in Honduras, Jamaica, Kenya, and Uganda. Today, International Samaritan supports nearly 900 students through its scholarships and partnerships with schools.

*2022 - Francisco Coll School in Guatemala*

How did you get involved with International Samaritan?

International Samaritan hosts service immersion trips for high schools, universities, organizations, and other interested groups of people to experience the communities and volunteer while there.

In 2011, entering my senior year of high school, St. John’s organized a weeklong service immersion trip to Guatemala with International Samaritan. Along with over a dozen classmates, we spent a few days seeing the garbage dump community in Guatemala and volunteering at the Francisco Coll School, such as doing maintenance work and spending time with the students.

While the trip did have a service element, its biggest goal was educating us about the conditions and difficulties that people living in garbage dump communities face and demonstrating ways we could help. Particularly for us high school students growing up in the United States, it was shocking to see the conditions that these students - similar to us - had to grow up in, and how they continued to come to school every day with joy and ready to study. While seeing the conditions saddened us, it also made us want to help as well as have more gratitude for what we had back home.

2011 - A classmate and I with two young students from the Francisco Coll School

In 2022, I had the opportunity to travel back to Guatemala for a five-day trip with a group of people interested in becoming more involved with International Samaritan. We saw a lot of the same places that I had seen over a decade prior. Compared to what I remembered from 2011, International Samaritan had really improved their schools and expanded to serve ages from toddlers through high school students, with college age students receiving scholarships to attend local universities. For example, International Samaritan bought a building near the garbage dump which they converted to a Family Life Center to provide a safe space with good resources for students to come to before and after school to complete their schoolwork as well as relax. Additionally, I could tell the garbage dump community in Guatemala had improved, though there is still a lot more work to be done.

What probably most impressed me during this trip was seeing the care and enthusiasm of the program leaders, teachers, and other staff members. A lot of these caretakers live in the community, and they seem to really want to help these children succeed. We arrived at the end of the school year, and some of the teachers told us that they are sad for the upcoming break because they enjoy being with the students each day. To me, having educators who really care about the students gives the children a better chance of breaking the cycle of poverty.

*2022 - Teachers, staff members, and group members at the Francisco Coll School*

How can people get involved with and support International Samaritan?

Financial limitation is the number one reason why International Samaritan is not able to support more students. Unfortunately, International Samaritan has to turn away students each year. Since 2019, 100% of donations to International Samaritan go towards services in the developing nations, as all other overhead costs are covered by their endowment fund. If you are interested in financially supporting International Samaritan, you can visit intsam.org/donation-redirect.

If you are interested in attending a service immersion trip or participating in their Learn, Serve, Grow program, book clubs, or other projects, you can visit intsam.org/lsg-program. While I have learned a lot about International Samaritan through conversations with their team members as well as via their written materials and videos, actually seeing the Guatemala community and their work has made me feel strongly about how important their services are.

Finally, every October, International Samaritan organizes a global 5K, which you can participate in by visiting intsamglobal5k.com. You can run with your own small team wherever you are, or you can join a larger team. Additionally, some cities are organizing events for people to meet up and run together - for example, I am helping to organize a 5K run in the Toledo, Ohio area in early November, with more details to follow. This year, International Samaritan’s goal is to raise $150,000 in order to provide 50 students with scholarships.

I am grateful to know the International Samaritan team, and hope more people are able to learn about the amazing services that they are providing around the world!