.(Roo born October 2006 in Sierra Leone)
(Kelsay born September 2006 in USA) .…………….
Nazareth House Apostolate brings people together, people who may never have met if it were not for their involvement in NHA.
Kelsay is the grandson of Fr. Seraphim and Mama Vicki. Roo, of course, is the son of James and Kadijah. He is also considered a grandchild of Fr. Seraphim and Mama Vicki. Kelsay’s mom, Aleica, considers James her brother from across the ocean. James affectionately calls Aleica and her sisters Melody and Heather “sis”. “James”, was one of the first words out of Jenna’s mouth (Kelsay’s older sister). We are one big blended family.
Kelsay and Roo were born just one month apart. There hasn’t been a time in their short lives that they did not know about the other. Aleica and Kadijah counted the days of their pregnancies together and discussed the delivery stories; they shared a Baby Shower at Grace Church – packing all of Kadijah’s gifts and sending them on to Sierra Leone.
Even though Roo and Kelsay have never met physically, it is not a hinderance to their love and friendship. They are both a part of each others lives as if they were living under the same roof. There are no borders or ocean separating them.
When Nazareth House teamed up with One Love Foundation for the recent Shoe Drive, Kelsay wanted to do his part.
He gathered his out-grown shoes and packed them up to send to Roo. In his mind, if it goes to Africa, it MUST go to Roo.
Kelsay is used to helping his grandma in America pack and ship things to St. Laurence House for distribution by James for NHA.
But this time, it was time for Kelsay and Roo to do their part, and so the shoes were sent directly to Roo from Kelsay. And once Roo (it took about 10 days) received them – he knew exactly what to do with them,
give them to those in need!
What else would a member of the Nazareth House team do?
And these two boys, Roo and Kelsay, are truly team players.
Note from James Mansaray, Roo’s father:
Having spent all his time at St. Laurence House ROO takes up his first mission trip to Kabala to see and help do the NHA job. Thanks to Kelsay Willis who made it possible by sending ROO all his out-grown shoes. ROO makes way for all his out-grown but good shoes to go to Sorie, Bakanu and Yemeh at Kamathun village. ROO was feeling so sad for these poor kids. You could see it in his eyes as he looked at them. He was not shy to mix and play with them at all and begged if he could stay with them for a while. We have two up and coming helpers in NHA with Roo and Kelsay, perpetuating the existence of the work of NHA. Everything is coming into place, except for the most needed – the compound. We must raise the money to buy our own place by March 1, 2010… otherwise all this good will be stalled or ended. We can’t let that happen. Please give today, as you can see the work is so important. God bless you all.
