The blessing of a smile.

HER SMILE BLESSES ME………

Blog post by James Bombolia Mansaray: Kabala, Sierra Leone

Meeting my beloved Sierra Leonean people in the villages always brings the smiles out of me.  No matter how down I am, no matter how overwhelmed I am, these people who have little to nothing always give to me more than I can express. Thanks to Nazareth House Apostolate for making it possible for me to go to these beautiful people even with the little support we are getting.

Have you ever noticed a true smile from the very poor? Go buy few bags of rice and bring to these villagers who might have been hungry for couple of days then you will see what I mean.  The thought that someone considered their troubles and came to them delights them so.  

Yesterday I gave rice to the few lucky ones in surrounding villages courtesy of money sent in by Mama Vicki to give out to some people for Christmas. It is always not enough but with the little we have,  you can see the smiles that am talking about.

It is easy to smile when things go good for you, when everything is falling into place, but most grumble when things are not going good.  But these villagers keep a smile even if things are worse.  They are happy for another day in hopes things might get better.  And when they get a bit of relief they are overjoyed. We all do smile and  always see people smile when they  get a gift or something but this lady set my eyes with tears of joy after I gave a bag of rice to her family. She just couldn't hold it inside and you can tell from her parched lips that there was nothing placed in her mouth several  days. I was so honored to be there for her and would love to do more of this and bring out more smiles like this.  I can do this but I need your help through NHA, donate today, let's bring out more smiles. 

Report Card Day: NHA School - Kabala

Another year has come to a close at NHA School Kabala.  

And again the teachers, students, helpers and Administrators: James and Pa Foday have excelled beyond our expectation.    

James and NHA School teachers and staff 

James began sending individual photographs of the students as they received their report cards so that we could all see the proud students.  

There are upwards of 255 students and I emailed James back to tell him that I had enough photos of students with report cards and to send other pictures of the Year End School Festivities.  

James replied, "Mama, every student is anxious for those who make their school possible to see them get their Report Cards.  They all want you to know, I couldn't leave anyone out!" 

So today's blog will show some of the Students at the Nazareth House Apostolate School getting their report cards. 

 AND from now until I have posted all of them there will be a child featured in every blog posts until everyone has been shown.  

Each one of these children never fail to give thanks for their education 

and they are especially thankful that you cared enough to see that they have a school and the opportunity to learn.  

I hope that as you view each child you remember to say a special prayer for them, their teachers, James and Pa Foday.  

We thank you for your continued support.  You are giving these dear children the gift of education that lasts a lifetime.  Thank you. 

Donations can be made through the NHA Website at 

www.nazarethhouseap.org 

by using the Paypal Donation Button 

on the right side of the website 

or 

you can mail donations to 

Nazareth House Apostolate

185 Captains Cove Drive

Taylorsville, KY 40071 

United States of America 

FAITH in action

The purpose of this NHA Blog is to keep you informed of the work and the needs both in Kentucky and in Sierra Leone.  It is important to us that you can see and track the gifts (donations) that you give.   Sometimes it takes time for everything to fall into place and the internet to cooperate in Sierra Leone but eventually you'll be able to see your contribution to NHA in action.   And so today I show you what the Faith Family has done.  This post details the activity of the Faith Family Yard Sale.   Its fitting that their name is Faith because it was in faith that this family trusted that whatever they gave would be enough to do something helpful.  

It pleases us that Cassie was surprised that a whole village could be supplied with dishes for $60.  (see yesterday's blog post: ) It is the way of NHA to be extremely careful with money - at the skete and in our overseas outreach.  James and our staff in Sierra Leone are exceedingly thrifty.  They know that the funds they receive come from your hard earned dollars.  They do not take this lightly and in their appreciation every thing they purchase is done so in the utmost frugal manner.  This is the practice of NHA in Sierra Leone and at the skete. This is why you see Seraphim constantly turning lights off behind others, we do not heat or air condition the chapel except on Sundays, grow as much of the food as we can and rarely hire out work. James is a master at squeezing everything he can out of every penny he receives.  In that vein, let us show you how the $200 from the Faith Family Yard Sale was spent:

At the end of every NHA School year in Kabala, the Teachers, Parents and Students are rewarded with a "End of Year Party".  James and the teachers work hard to prepare for this celebration.  This year, because of the Faith Family, we were able to provide a super party for the NHA School.  We provided food, 

(lots of food) and a good time for everyone - students, teachers and parents!  

$60 feeds one family one meal in Disney Land (and I suspect that was with the Faith Family being very economical).  But through NHA,  

only $140 more feeds 300 students, teachers and parents one meal and a party in Kabala!  - thanks to the careful planning and preparing of all of those involved in the school.

and as the pictures show, everyone received an American sized huge portion.

And thanks to Erik, Spencer and Owen - we now have two footballs for the Physical Education at the NHA School.  

Its fun to see the students having such fun.  Many of you will recognize the familiar faces of the students and notice how fast they are growing up.  Soon we will have students that have went through every grade and graduated from our school.  

The Year End Festivities took place on three different days last week at the NHA School.  We are anxious to share all of these events with you.  Tomorrow our blog will be on "Receiving Report Cards".  Please check back to see these students.  We cannot tell you how proud we are of them, the teachers, Pa Foday and James for all they have accomplished this year.  And most especially our supporters who are making it all happen.  

We depend on our supporters who give monthly that enable us to pay our teachers, provide food for many families, keep the skete and NHA Compound in good maintenance, provide for our staff and enable us to remain in prayer for others.  We are grateful for their support and for the extras that come in from time to time like this Yard Sale Money that enable us to surprise our brothers and sisters in Sierra Leone with additional good things.