Freetown is busy, its loud, its hectic
the concrete all around makes the hottest days even hotter
We’re very excited about the move of NHA to the quieter, simpler Kabala
However, make no mistake, after 11 years in Freetown, NHA will miss it!
And we’ll especially miss St. Laurence House, the love, the fellowship.
One thing about it when you were at St. Laurence House, you were at home, you were with family.
Our work in the villages pulls us into Kabala, our NHA School is there, our work is there.
The move is practical in that the cost of living is much cheaper in the upper provinces, also. It has its drawbacks, every place does, but the benefits to the people that NHA serves far outweigh the minor inconveniences of a more simpler lifestyle.
We still owe $14,000 to complete the construction on the Compound. We really need your help to pay the contractor so that we can move James and his family in. Right now they are in limbo waiting for those final dollars to be paid so that they have a roof over their heads. They are nervous, they are concerned – but they are making the best of it and focusing on the work. The landlord in Freetown has exhausted his mercy to them and is ushering them out of St. Laurence House very soon. In Freetown we would have paid $300,000 for the same type building and land. We’ve paid less than a third of that sum for the structure in Kabala.
So as Nazareth House reorganizes and moves forward in Kabala, I can’t help but to think of the good times in Freetown:
I will miss sharing meals together in our little rented
St. Laurence House
I will miss the walks
in the crowded Freetown Streets
I will miss our dear dear neighbors
I will miss the vendors,
I will miss Kadijah’s back yard, where we washed our clothes,
hung them to dry
where we had great conversation and Kadijah always had food prepared waiting for the hungry
I’ll miss the slimy things in the shower (as well as the never-flushable toilet)
I’ll miss gathering round the table
I’ll miss Spiderman slinking all around …
I’ll miss that porch,
remembering the hot nights
where it was the only place you could possibly get a bit of a breeze (even with the hovering mosquitoes)
I’ll miss packing
and unpacking supplies
on the floor of St. Laurence House
all this I will miss,
but life goes on, life changes
and now its time for new beginnings.
Time to create new memories
and I have no doubt they will be just as full as they were in Freetown …and I have a sneaking suspicion – we won’t be trading old memories for new memories,
but instead blending them into one long beautiful journey. Freetown will be never be forgotten, NEVER! We owe a lot to Freetown, it raised us and taught us a lot. We can fly the nest with strength and courage, all lessons learned well.
Only the structure and the location are changing, what makes NHA – the people – they remain the same. To those we leave behind in Freetown, we say “So Long”! We don’t say “Goodbye” for we will visit whenever we can.
The same circle of love expanding and bringing more and more into the fold.
We love you all!
Thank you to everyone who is helping us complete this step and make this journey. We appreciate your continued prayers and support. Don’t be stingy, let others receive the same blessings bestowed on you by caring and becoming one family with our those in Sierra Leone. Share the work, tell them what YOU are doing in Sierra Leone through Nazareth House. We are in this together, come… join us.
…the sky is the limit to what we can achieve as long as we remember that all things begin, continue, maintain and end in prayer.
God bless you all
Donations should be mailed to:
Nazareth House Apostolate
185 Captains Cove Drive
Taylorsville, KY 40071
or made through the Paypal Donation Button on our website
