Angela Kadijah Mansaray, birthday: April 8th 1980.
Known to us as Kadijah, she is married to James, our Director of Nazareth House in Freetown. He will be the first to tell you that he did well in finding her. She is a rare and wonderful individual.
She is mother to Lucy and Roo and adopted mother to Ann Marie and now, Amie. She works for Nazareth House distributing medications and the humanitarian aid as well as the administration work (keeping the books, documentation, etc) of the organization. 
She manages the domestic work of St Laurence House (cooking, cleaning, etc). She is a very intricate and important part of Nazareth House.
Everything that can be said about Kadijah is pictured in this photo of her with little Sheku. Look at the concern in Kadijah’s eyes. Anyone seeing a sad sight such as this would have concern, rightly so. This is the day before this dear child died of the worms which invaded his body. Kadijah thinks with her heart. This enables her compassion to stretch all limits and encompass all that she does. She is love embodied to its fullest.
It was Kadijah that noticed Mohammed, in trouble on the streets, understanding his situation and wanting to give him as much dignity as possible, she fetched James to bring him into St. Laurence House and give him a hand. (To see -cut and paste to your browser this link: http://nazarethhouseap.blogspot.com/2008/06/repeat-of-report-from-june-2007.html#links from our June 5th blog about Mohammed)
Where ever there is work to be done, wherever there is need; you will see Kadijah quietly, hidden, tending to the matter at hand. Many times at St. Laurence House, I have stepped aside from the busy-ness of our work only to find Kadijah silently preparing food to slip to the beggar in the streets. All day long people, especially children, filter into the little “back yard” area of St. Laurence House where Kadijah cooks and does laundry. A meal is sitting there for them. Nothing is said. If I hadn’t gone looking for Kadijah one time, I would have never noticed it was going on. She feeds the people, attends to them, gives them company.
You never see Kadijah idle. She is always busy, always working, always providing.
Nazareth House is proud to have her on our team!
I was absolutely delighted to have Kadijah be by my side to help with the Opening Day of the School. I didn’t expect this would happen, knowing that Ann Marie and Lucy couldn’t miss school. Kadijah managed to arrange for the girls to stay safely in Freetown with James’ brother, Joseph and Roo stayed with a friend. I was so thankful. Opening a school can be hectic and it was Kadijah’s quiet comfort and constant assistance that made the day go so smoothly.
PHOTO CAPTION: Kadijah and Mama Vicki crying tears of joy watching opening of the Nazareth House Kabala School
Many people gave and sacrificed to make the school in Kabala possible, but the three embracing one another in the above photo, in my opinion made it happen. James, making all the horrible journeys back and forth to Kabala; Pa Foday making it all a reality in Kabala and Kadijah keeping St. Laurence House running and the work of Nazareth House so that James could push the work on the school. They did a remarkable job.
Everytime I turned around, Kadijah was quietly there, giving a helping hand.
Personally, Kadijah is one of my daughters, we have totally adopted her. Father Seraphim and I love her so much. She is this silent, dainty little flower that blooms in the midst of the harshness of Freetown and transforms it all with beauty and love.
