Nazareth House Apostolate

It is only a short time away before NHA makes the move to Kabala. The plans are set, but so little accomplished and there is much to be done to make this a reality. At times when I think of this move, I wink my eye brows, trying to send away the uneasy feelings and trust in the strength in you all to make this happen. I had this uneasy feeling with the school and the NHA supporters came through.

I pray that we can do it again this time for the NHA Compound.

Like the school, the Compound is so vital to the work we do in Sierra Leone – it is the cornerstone of stability and the future of the help we continue to give.

True, it has been a while since I last wrote on this blog. I’ve missed keeping in touch with you all and I guess you guys missed hearing from me as well. I have been quiet but not inactive.

It is our job at NHA to keep the good work going.

It is hard for me to talk about the future in Kabala without first speaking of the heavy cloud of illness we have experienced in the inner circle of NHA recently.

My mum, my dad (Pa Foday)

have both battled malaria this past month.

And then only a few weeks back my wife escaped the deadly malaria and Typhoid parasite.

Today, our beloved Fr. Seraphim continues to struggle to fight against this dreaded disease. Malaria can be a killer disease and we are most thankful for your prayers and the recovery of our loved ones during this troublesome time for NHA.

Young boys praying the rosary for the healing of Fr. Seraphim.

The illnesses we’ve experienced knocked us down for a bit, but also set us up with a fresh initiative to move forward – with a deeper sense of urgency.

As long as there is ONE person starving,

ONE child unable to attend school, or

ONE person dealing with worms squirming in their guts, that’s all the motivation we need. We fight hard to conquer all roadblocks.

Once again, Nazareth House Apostolate is in the midst of those it serves in Sierra Leone.

It is the call of NHA to experience what the people it serves experiences. As a Humanitarian Organization we do not place ourselves in a different environment than everyone else. We are one with the people, in their midst.

We get hungry, we get sick, we carry buckets of water, we share the same food – no fancy hotel living with showers that have hot water, no fancy headquarters, we live as everyone does. We get malaria.

GREETINGS,

To God be the glory, great things He has done.

Nazareth House Apostolate Primary School Kabala, wants to thank you all for what has been a blessed school year.

If it was not for your SUPPORT, LOVE, PRAYERS and GREAT HEART OF GIVING, we should have not come this far as a school.

Therefore, as a school and behalf of the Education Superintendent Rev.Foday Mansaray, Head Teacher Mr. Mako Mansaray Teachers- Mr. Joshua B.Kanu, Mr.Kelleh Mansaray, Mrs. Lucy Kamara and Mr. Jonathan Senessie we want to thank you all for supporting the school all through these years.

We were able as a school to have a very successful school year.

School close down on the 9^th of July, exactly one week today.

The parents were with us on this very day to collect the report cards of their children.

It is always a very special day for all the children, as they will be going to new classes when school reopens.

But above all the parents will like to see and know the academic performances of their children right through the school years.

The children were given there reports cards: Nursery, Class One, Class two, Class Three and Class Four.

We already have a group of pupils that will go to class five next year.

We need to have a new class room space for them and also a new teacher.

The school currently has five (5) teachers, for all the classes.

But come next year, we will need another teacher to handle the new class.

We hope and pray that God will make the necessary provision so that we can find a new class room space and a new teacher for the children as we want to keep all these children at school.

We are growing as a school, if something is not done we will have to turn down some of these children, which NHA hates to do because we care and love our children so dearly.

We can keep all these children in school come next year if hearts are opened to GIVE to NHA to help these needy children.

Once more our gratitude goes to Father Seraphim and Mama Vicki for all the support, hard work and love that you guys have shown to us all through these years.

Know that this love and concern will always hold a special place in the heart of all NHA school children in Kabala.

To our great friends and supporters out there we say ‘TENKI’ (Krio for ‘thank you’)

We love you all.

Jerry Mako.

Dear Friends and Supporters
We send you our warmest greetings from NHA School Kabala. We thank God for another week in the month of July, and the last week in our school year calendar.

All the children and their parents were in attendance to celebrate this day with us.

It was a very happy time as you can see from the smiling faces of the children.

Photo by James Mansaray

You remember Sheaku,the child with the worms.

just take a look at him,he is doing fine and well. Thanks be to God for his recovery – God working through Nazareth House to provide the means for his healing.

There was enough food and drinks for all our children, staff members, and friends invited, and even the supporting parents. We really thank God for this great love and for the ones that is shared this very day.

There were cultural dances, singinging, and a film show for the young nursery children.

Once more we want thank you all for all the love and support you have shown to us all these years.

Photo provided by James Mansaray

Your support and help to us as a school as you can see has changed the lives of hundreds of children and brought JOY, LOVE, PEACE and HOPE in their lives.

Photo by James Mansaray

Our local community at Kabala has been really blessed with the work on NHA.

Photo by James Mansaray

To you all we say thank you for all what you have done for us.

Much love to you all, and May the good Lord keeps us all.
Mako Jerry.

James, Kadijah, Lucy and Ann Marie returned to Kroo Bay Medical Clinic to bring them more medical supplies. Once again they were greeted by an extremely happy staff eager to receive some much needed supplies. Once again, we were surprised by just how little equipment and supplies they had and how much they needed what we just brought in. When you surf the Internet you find a great deal about the needs of Kroo Bay but it seems there are precious few stepping up to the plate to actually get the supplies in to those who need it so much. Nazareth House doesn’t have a lot but everything we have we send to Kroo Bay and other clinics in Sierra Leone who have many sick patients and nothing to aid them in their treatment. And every time we make a visit we find them with empty shelves.

On this round we had quite a bit of surgery supplies, bandages, syringes, catheters and even some IV drip filled with Potassium Chloride.

I am always amazed that we are able to ship across an ocean to a small country in Africa bags full of IV drip without it bursting.

So far, we’ve had great success. Wherever the need…you do what you can to get it there.

The Potassium Chloride bags were left over from an illness of Aleica Willis when she had a home nurse tending to her.

The fluid bags were just left there and Aleica of course had paid for them so she gave them to NHA. Once in our possession, off they go to benefit Sierra Leone.

Some doctors in Indiana provided the syringes and other medical necessities. We are happy to see Ann Marie and Lucy who have been studying and testing this week.

Some items were purchased by NHA from S.O.S. (Supplies Over Seas), a non-profit that gives access at an extremely fair price to needed medical supplies.

Once again our NHA team

has shown up at Kroo Bay and provided much that they needed at the exact right time – when they were out of everything.

The doctor on duty is providing us with a list of their current needs. We will do all we can to fill it.

And what drives NHA to keep trying and giving and working ?

This is what drives us, this child, this very sick crying child, this is what brings us to our knees in prayer, this is what makes us not look away but enter into it all and do all that we can. Please don’t look away, join us – Make a Difference!

Nazareth House Apostolate

2216 Goldsmith Lane

Louisville, KY 40218

www.nazarethhouseap.org

We send you greetings for Kabala Koinadugu District,

Northern Sierra Leone.

It has been a very busy week for all the teachers out here at Nazareth House Apostolate School.

The final exams for the school year 2009/2010 ended one week ago, and since then we have been working on the reports cards filling in the grades for the children on their various grade levels.

School will close down next Friday the 9^th of July, marking the end of this school year.

At present, the children are busy practicing their cultural songs, plays and dances as the school will be having a PARTY and CULTURAL PERFORMANCES for the children on Thursday the 8^th July.

This is how schools in and around Kabala celebrate or mark the end of the school year for their children.

A fun time at school, a day of year-end closure of another school year. We believe this is good for the children.

It will keep us in good spirits as we go for holidays.

As a school, we want to thank God first for His love, Care, Provision, Protection all throughout this school.

We also want to thank Mama Vicki and Father Seraphim for their tireless work, help, supports and prayers all through this school year.

They have been of great helps to us as a school and have been there for us when ever we need them.

And to you all our dear friends and supporters we want to thank you all for helping us out all this years.

Your support to us as a school, in any form or kind has been a great blessing to us.

We thank you all for your support and help To NHA School Kabala.

We love you all, and may the Good God continue to Bless Us All.

Mako.

There is always excitement at the Nazareth House Apostolate’s St Laurence House in Freetown, Sierra Leone when the postman delivers. The family gathers together to dig into the boxes to unpack the medications for distribution and the supplies for the Medical Clinics, etc. etc.

WOW! Salone Post has come through and delivered 6 boxes to James in Freetown. James signs for the packages and receives them. We’ve been waiting for these shipments to arrive for a long time. They have the much needed medical supplies for Kroo Bay in them. As always, NHA in USA always sends surprises for James and his family to find. Check back on this blog tomorrow to find out what we’ve sent this time.

It is fitting that so soon after Kadijah suffers at the hands of bad pharmaceuticals in Freetown that AllAfrica.com prints this story:

Dear Friends,
We thank you for your continued prayers. It seems that malaria is making its rounds with our staff on both sides of the ocean. Kadijah is now making great strides in recovery but Fr. Seraphim is still down with it. It has been a rough go and we’re not expecting much improvement for a few days. This has been the hardest hit of malaria on either of them. Your prayers are so very important to us and to Nazareth House Apostolate. Please keep them up.

From Kabala come the Love, Peace and Blessing of God on this very Friday the 25 day of June.

The Nazareth House Primary School Kabala wants to give God the glory for a blessed school year-2009/2010.

As we are in the final weeks for the closing down of school, many questions keep coming to our hearts as we see and hear what is happening and goes around us. We began to wonder and the students asked:

Does God really Care about us?

Will our suffering ever end?

How can we pray so that God can answer our prayers?

And above all, how can we find true happiness?

Where can we look for these answers to these questions? Often, one book contradicts another.

There is, however, one book that contains reliable answers. It is the book of truth-The Bible, the Word of God.

In John 17:17, Jesus Christ in Prayers to God Said, “Your Word is Truth”.

In Job 34:10, God has a loving purpose for humans. That’s why Jesus taught us to pray: “Our Father in Heaven let …your Kingdom come. Let your will take place on earth as it is in Heaven”. In Matthew 6:9,10,God cares so deeply about us that he has gone to great length to make the fulfillment of his purpose a certainty.-John 3:16.

In times of suffering, God in His Word foretells a time when He will establish peace on earth. In Isaiah 2:4, God will bring an end to all injustice and suffering.

For God to hear our prayers, when we pray we must not say the same petitions over and over again. In Matthew 6:7, if we want God to listen to our prayers, we must pray in the way that He approves. To do that, we need to learn what God’s will is and then pray accordingly. First John 5:14 explains, No matter what is it that we ask accordingly to God’s will He hears us.

To find true happiness, in Matthew 5:3, true happiness can be found only if we take steps to fill our greatest need, our hunger for spiritual truth about God purpose for us.

With these words for the Word of God there is hope for us as human in this troubled world, especially the NHA family as we remember this day in prayers our dear Father, Grandfather Fr.Seraphim who is in sick bed for God’s mighty healing hands to restore back again his health. He is such a God fearing, good, loving, and caring man. We are praying as a school and as a family for you our dear father.

We have as a school 14 more days to go for the closing down of school. We are presently doing our final work on the reports cards for the children and also preparing for the School Party and cultural performances for the children which they are eagerly waiting.

We will have the party and cultural performances on Thursday July 8^th and on the 14^th Friday we are going to close down school. A good time await us as a school in the next few days to come.

To you all we want to say thank you for all the help and support all through these years and for helping hundreds of needy children out here in Kabala.

Keep the good work by continuing to support the good work of NHA.

We love you all.

BY Jerry Mako.