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.  

An Act of Faith

This NHA Blog post is written by Cassandra Sever Faith of Chico, California:

A few years ago our family had the opportunity, along with our church; St. Augustine’s in Chico, to meet James from Nazareth House Apostolate, Sierra Leone.  He and Seraphim and Vicki joined us in a fundraiser for their work in Africa we called Pray, Love, Walk. (For details click here: Pray, Love, Walk: NHA Blog Post) It was a walk around beautiful Bidwell Park in Chico on January first to raise funds for NHA. 

 I enjoyed the entire morning… from the first cold, rainy step till the final scoop of scrambled eggs at the finish.  And a devotion to a cause was born.  

I had been praying and waiting for something bigger than ourselves and our familiar circumstances to connect to; something that directly impacts children and families; something with which my own children could build a personal connection: with NHA, I had found what I was looking for.  But I didn’t want to organize another walk, I wanted to build thoughts about NHA into our lives, to cause my children in one breath to look around them and be grateful for their lot in life, and in the next breath to recognize that maybe we have too much – that it’s overflowing, and how our overflow can benefit those who need so much.  (2 Corinthians 9: 6-15) 

But why Africa?  That’s easy.  It’s because I wonder what Africa can do once the basic needs of that continent have been met.  What is the overflow of its people???  What is this world missing out on because Africa is lacking water? Or food?  Or safety?  We need them, and we don’t even know it yet.

So we started last Christmas by sending $10.00 per family member to NHA instead of buying another gift.  Counting the exchange student living with us that meant $60.00.  We typically only give our children three gifts each at Christmas because that is how many Jesus got… and who needs more than that?  But the third gift this year was one we gave away. 

 I had no idea how much can be done with $60.00! (See details at this link http://blog.nazarethhouseap.org/2012/12/dishing-it-out-nha-style.html)  

James managed to buy chickens for his son to raise to donate eggs to villagers; and dishes for an entire village so each family can have its own bowl.  An ENTIRE VILLAGE!  

The ironic thing is that the next week our family was given tickets to Disneyland for Christmas and we spent $60.00 there for one meal!  One meal for one family cost $60.00.  And we were not really hungry.  This got our wheels turning.  How much do we have that we truly don’t need…?  It’s fun to go to Disneyland of course, but is there another place we are truly, excessively blessed that we can use to bless others?

When we returned home from Disneyland, I started clearing out the clutter.  I hate clutter.  And as the ‘donation to goodwill’ pile got bigger and bigger, we realized we had quite a bit to donate – we’d been excessively blessed.  What if, instead of giving this clutter away, we put out a little effort and have a yard sale?  Then we could donate the money instead to NHA!  So that’s what we did.  Some friends who were moving found out what we were doing, and donated their unwanted clutter too.  My oldest son is a Sea Cadet and needs to put in community service hours for promotion.  

So he got up at 6 a.m. (and he’s a teenager) to help us set up and sell until noon.   In all we raised $200.00.  $200.00 from things we no longer wanted (again, our overflow); things we were just going to give away anyway.  

I’m excited to see what James will do with it.  Our children requested one or two soccer balls be given to the school, but other than that, James is free to fill the biggest need he sees!

And when people saw our little handwritten sign that all profits were going to help children in Africa, many people gave more than the asking price.  Our neighbor across the street bought an item and took it home.  But he returned a few minutes later with a few more dollars because it was going to a good cause.  Another neighbor also bought some toys and paid more than the asking price to help NHA.  A family of several daughters walked up and saw our sign.  They asked about NHA, and then proceeded to give an extra $20.00!  Who does THAT at a yard sale?  And then last week while we were talking about the yard sale, my 7 year old said he had heard a boy walk up, read our sign and then turn to his family and say, “they look like Christians!”  I’ll take that any day.

There was still plenty left over at the end of the day to donate to ‘goodwill’.  Many of our local needs will still get met.  But we were able to incorporate the needs of an entire village thousands of miles away, into our daily lives too.  I was also reminded that there are many good people in this world.  People who will see a sign like ours and give.  They had no proof that the money would make it to the organization we were promoting.  Yet they gave anyway.  I am humbled by the generosity of many, and by the trust people placed in us that day... all because of a yard sale.

Nazareth House Apostolate is happy to report

that the money has been received and spent 

in Sierra Leone.  

YES, Faith Boys, we did indeed purchase two soccer balls 

(or footballs as we call them at the NHA School) 

and we are positive you will be totally delighted when

you see how the remaining money from 

the Faith Family Yard Sale 

was spent. 

For details see tomorrow's NHA blog post 

Dishing it out, NHA style

The Nativity Scene: St. Simeon Skete 

From Nazareth House Apostolate, 

St. Simeon Skete, 

we wish you all a Blessed Christmastide. 

 May the Light of His Nativity be born in your every moment.  

St. Simeon Skete, Vigil of the Nativity

NHA received several gifts to send on to our loved ones in Sierra Leone.  

Roberta Masson gave a Christmas Gift to Matthew Drake that in turn gave to this village

We asked for money to buy specific needs for some of the villages.  

Solar Calculators given to the students of NHA School.

James took that funding and stretched it to purchase the following bowls, fowl and other items for these families.  

The villagers with their new dishes received as Christmas Gifts  

Remember, the need is not only during Christmas and other holidays... its is ongoing.  

A family in Chico gives to a family in Sierra Leone

Remember, poverty is unending and 

Villager clapping & dancing with her brand new bowl as a Christmas Gift. 

conversely, compassion has no deadlines either, 

James with a village youngster and his Candy Cane Christmas Present

if you want to help, the time is always right. 

Loretta Burwell provided clocks for the students at NHA School to learn how to tell time 

The Anglican Parish of St. Mark's in Portland, Oregon sent their 2nd Annual Batch of Candy Canes.  

Its Christmas, the Candy Canes are here! 

These candy canes are the only gifts these children (and some adults) receive.  

Thanks St. Mark's Portland, OR

St. Mark's Parish sent two crammed full boxes, so far only one box has been delivered, 

yummy candy canes

but we are certain the other will arrive very soon.  

Seems this young man couldn't even wait for the wrapper to be taken off

In the meantime, many children enjoyed the Christmas joy of a candy cane this morning.  

When the other box reveals itself, more children will enjoy. 

For now we have many happy children. 

St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Montgomery, AL sent several boxes full of OTC medications along with a financial donation as did St Augustine of Canterbury Anglican Church in Chico, CA.  Canon Hansen and his dear wife, Giti with St. Augustine Church in Chico have been so very faithful in their support of the work in Africa. 

Medical Supplies from St. Thomas Aquinas, Alabama

The medications have arrived from Chico but the boxes from St. Thomas are still in transit to Freetown, Sierra Leone.  

I slipped a bottle of Cholula for Kadijah and some dirty rice mix.

James is expecting their arrival very soon.  

Debbie King's OTC medications were shipped from the States last week and should arrive within ten days.  Loretta Burwell of Louisville has been providing the NHA School with educational supplies with one shipment after another.   These were all apart of the Christmas in Kabala Program.  

Many others have consistently supported the work with monthly donations. We can't mention everyone in in one posting.  You'll be seeing the fruit of your donations in posts on this blog very soon.  There is a time delay sometimes between need, supply and receipt due to the logistics of having this huge body of water called the Atlantic Ocean in between our operational centers in Taylorsville, Kentucky and Kabala, Sierra Leone.  Nevertheless, if you don't see your name mentioned in this blog today, don't worry, it will come up in the rotation as needs are filled.   In the meantime, please accept our heartfelt thanks for all that you've done. 

A special thank you to the Faith Family of Chico, California 

for providing this village with bowls and needed dishes.  

No words needed.  

The photos of the smiles say it all.  

You did good, Faith Family!  tenki tenki (krio for thank you)  

Roo with his new hens

...and as for the family receiving two hens, James decided it would be good for his own family to do this.  Seeing we have chickens at the skete and it is our practice of giving out eggs, James felt he should do the same, provide for the family and for his neighbors.   He has two hens right now. Hopefully others will want to help him build up his chicken stock .... $25 donation buys two hens. 

Thank you to Monica Grant of Champaign, IL for her gift to Fred and Sheila Krieger of Cleves, Ohio.  James used her donation to purchase some rice for families that had no way to buy it for themselves. 

Reuben and Debbie Chance, daughter of NHA Board Member, Liz Holt Dickson knew that the best Christmas gift they could give their mom was to send a donation to NHA for the work in Africa.  This contribution has been added to the Fund for a Vehicle for NHA to use delivering humanitarian aid to the villages.  We have no form of transportation at this time and must rent or borrow a car or be at the mercy of wild & reckless taxi drivers.   Reuben and Debbie also provided enough for rice for a few families. 

This Christmas as we celebrate our Saviour's birth in a stable - no room in the Inn -  I think of this Thomas Merton's quote:

"Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ has come uninvited. 

But because he cannot be at home in it, because he is out of place in it, and yet he must be in it, 

his place is with those others who do not belong, 

who are rejected by power, because they are regarded as weak, those who are discredited, 

who are denied the status of persons, tortured, exterminated. 

With those for whom there is no room, Christ is present in this world."

To all of our supporters, thank you for recognizing Christ in others, 

and making room for Him to work in your heart - providing food when He's hungry, shelter when He's cold, help when He's sick.

And to top this Christmas Day with her own surprise and joy, 

Little Miss Vicki took her first steps on this Christmas Morning. 

First steps and First Candy Cane!   What a wonderful Christmas 

Blessings to you all.  Its been a very productive year for NHA.  There is so much to do, but with the supporters we have and the family it has created, there isn't anything we can't do by God's helpful hand.  God bless you all.