Mako: NHA School Report, update on Pa Foday, glimpse at the building progress on Compound

Dear friends and supporters of Nazareth House Apostolate School Kabala,

View from front door of Compound looking at school

We send you our greetings of love,peace and blessing from Kabala Koinadugu District, Northern Sierra Leone.

View of School looking down towards the new compound.

We want to thank God Almighty and you all out there for giving us the opportunity to have this school. We, as a school, want to thank Mama Vicki and Father Seraphim Hicks for their tireless and endless effort to support our school since Opening Day, the 17^th of September 2008. They, in their little ways, have maintained and supported the school from beginning to now.

View from land we NHA is hoping to acquire, view of the Compound, the School & the small house

We also want to thank James for his constant relaying back and forth to bring help and support to us from Freetown. He has been a Godsend.

To our dear friends and supporters, who in different ways, have helped and supported us all these years,to you all we applaud your incredible and outstanding sense of humanity that has provided these children with quality education for a better living tomorrow.

The school with its Outhouse (little white building upper right)

It is from this background that I am glad to inform you all that your donations and support to Nazareth House Apostolate have been a huge blessing and changing the lives of hundreds of children.

Students with their teacher (May 2010)

The academic and learning process in the school is moving forward beautifully and as Head Teachers, we are doing our best to provide the quality teaching and structure that you as NHA have set as an example.

Some of the students with their teacher May 2010 (Note the NHA Compound in background.

At present the children are writing their 3^rd Mid-Term Test,which is the final preparation leading into the final exams of the school year. School closes down come late June to early July. All of our children, save three were healthy and able to take their exams. The three of our children who were unable to take their exams were of ill health (Malaria).The ‘Home Visit Team’including Pa.Foday was able to help these children by taking them to Kabala Government Hospital (with Pa Foday's motorbike) for treatment.

Pa Foday resting as he recovers from malaria.

Pa.Foday after this, also was attacked again by Malaria and was in sick bed for some days. James brought him some medication from Freetown.

Pa Foday receiving meds for his malaria brought by James this weekend.

We thank God that Pa Foday is doing fine for now. He has also been monitoring the building of the NHA Compound across the street from the school. In the picture below you can see from the back of the Compound how close it is located to the school - see upper right corner of picture ...see the school?

It is good for us as a school to have so many students completing courses and testing. This is a great sign of success.

As the school year draws to a close it very important for us as the administration of the school to fully inform you all of the current events, standards and progress of the school.The school as we all know is a three class room building with office space and a store room.The school started with a Nursery class and classes 1-2-and 3. We have quickly outgrown our space with more and more parents wishing to enroll their children. We have added one more class this school year(class 4),which we have done by dividing one of the classes with a straw mat as a room divider.This we hope to do next school year as we will be adding another class (class 5).

We are planning to have our second school wide ‘Unity School Party’ at the end of the academic year.This we believe is very important to us.We use this day to organize cultural dances,drama and as a time to share food with our children and parents marking the end of the school year - another successful one.

Once more we want to thank you all for you support and help.

Much love from us all.

Mako.

Fruits are being harvested in Sierra Leone; WE ALL (both near and far) GIVE THANKS

Harvest of Fruit, Kabala Sierra Leone May 2010

We plow the fields,

Corn Crop, Pa Foday Farm, Kabala, Sierra Leone

and scatter the good seed on the land,

Pa Foday harvesting rice from the farm, Kabala Village, Sierra Leone

But it is fed and watered

Near Kamasorie Village, Sierra Leone

By God's almighty hand;

rugged hands of the working man, Kabala Sierra Leone

He sends the snow in winter,

Grounds of NHA "Meeting of the Lord" Chapel & Hermitage. Louisville, KY

The warmth to swell the grain,

Agricultural Fair, Kabala Sierra Leone, March 2010

The breezes and the sunshine,

Palm Tree at Bureh Beach, Sierra Leone

And soft refreshing rain.

All good gifts around us

Are sent from heaven above;

Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord

For all his love

City Center, Kabala, Sierra Leone, October 2009

He only is the Maker

City Center, Outdoor Market, Freetown Sierra Leone

Of all things near and far:

Outdoor Market, City Center, Freetown, Sierra Leone

He paints the wayside flower,

Bleeding Hearts Flowers growing wild on barbed wire enclosure

He lights

Night falling on Kabala, Sierra Leone

the evening star;

North Beach, Pt Reyes, California

The winds and waves obey him,

Bureh Beach, Sierra Leone

By him the birds

San Francisco Bay, California

are fed;

Marsh near Inverness, CA

Much more to us,

Roo at Agricultural Fair, Kabala, Sierra Leone March 2010

his children,

St. Laurence House, Freetown, Sierra Leone

He gives our daily bread.

Congo Cross, Freetown, Sierra Leone

All good gifts around us

Are sent from heaven above;

Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord

For all his love

We thank thee, then, O Father,

Ann Marie & Kadijah preparing dinner, St. Laurence House, Freetown, Sierra Leone

For all things

Kabala Mangoes, May 2010

bright and good,

Mako displaying Mango Harvest, Kabala, Sierra Leone May 2010

The seedtime and the harvest,

Mangoes are here, Kabala Sierra Leone, May 2010

Our life, our health, our food;

Children Ismaia Road, Kabala, Sierra Leone

No gifts have we to offer

Bureh Beach, Kent Sierra Leone

For all thy love imparts

Distribution of rice, Road to Kabala, Sierra Leone April 2010

But that which thou desirest

Pa Foday, James at Farm in Kabala, Sierra Leone January 2010

Our humble thankful hearts

A man deep in prayer, over looking Freetown Sierra Leone March 2010

All good gifts around us

Are sent from heaven above;

Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord

For all his love

Nazareth House Apostolate

2216 Goldsmith Lane

Louisville, KY 40218

USA

Think of those in need

GIVE TODAY

Photography by James Bombolia Mansaray, Jerry Mako Mansaray, Vicki Hicks, All rights reserved

Hymn: (1940) Hymnal; for Thanksgiving Day; pg 138 by M. Claudius, 1782, J.A.P. Schulz 1800

Thank You VistaPrint

Our Nazareth House Tee-shirts,

mugs, brochures and other printing materials

all come from VistaPrint because of their Free-offers and discounted quality service. Their service to us at such a small cost enables us to make people aware of the needs in Sierra Leone and still maintain our ability to give the most possible to the people rather than administration.

Just this last week, I was able to get another 25 brochures for FREE with Vistaprint's email offer.

We are thankful to have found Vistaprint.

James and employees of Dyclar Internet Services in Freetown, SL

sport their NHA tee-shirts from VistaPrint.

The teachers (all wearing tee-shirts from Vistaprint) and students at our school in Sierra Leone sent a special thank you message to Vistaprint. Vistaprint published both the photo and my feedback on their "Customer Buzz" section of their website. Check it out on their website and check out their great prices for your printing needs while your at it. They've been very good to us, I'm sure you'll find them good for you, too.

If the shoe fits, wear it...

One by one,

child by child

we began to place shoes

on the feet in Kamasorie Village.

More and more people lined up

and it seemed we would run out.

Our goal was to fit shoes onto every child - and thankfully,

we did that.

However, we also managed to fit shoes

on several adults, too.

Pa Foday spotted a blind man walking and caught up with him to give him a pair of shoes.

We had a few small shoes left over

and were able to pass them on to other villages.

We were delighted with this adventure

and once the compound is paid for, the land purchased and the 4-wheel vehicle bought, we hope to plan another venture like this one.

The difficulty in getting all the shoes over to Sierra Leone and items like that,

is the expense of shipping.

To send a container, it runs around $8,000 port to port.

Then there are always "tips" you must pay to unload your container - this could run in the $thousands$.

Unless the container is packed with tons and tons of supplies with values that far outweigh the shipping costs, it is a prohibitive adventure. These shoes were part of joint venture

in which One Love Foundation & students of Penn Kidder School

in Pennsylvania were sponsoring a container to Freetown, this is why we were able to do it this time. One Love raised the money and paid for the container,

NHA supplied shoes that were purchased and donated by you.

The time at Kamasorie made for a great day,

now we prepare for the 4.8 mile hike back to the road and drive back to Kabala. We said our goodbyes and the people headed back to their homes.

Tired but satisfied with the day's work

we made our way back through the trails.

This time Fr. Seraphim had left before us to pray the path ahead.