Several people have asked, how do you run a charity on the other side of the world when you live in Colorado and run a small business here? Have you ever had that person---perhaps a friend, spouse, boss or mentor---who crossed your path at just the perfect moment, adding so much tangible and intangible to your life, who is that missing piece to a complex puzzle you thought maybe wasn’t included in the box, leading you to no other plausible conclusion than they must have been heaven sent? In 2015, God brought this missing piece into Devin’s life. Please allow us to introduce you to an incredible family: Ali Kamanda, his wife, Julia, and their two children, Cienna and Sekani. In a previous blog post you met Dorcas Kamanda, Ali's mother who is the much-adored Grandma and caregiver to the daughters of Mamaland. We could not have this ministry across the globe without our strong partnership with this remarkable family.
Ali was born in Sierra Leone, West Africa, in a southern town called Serabu. He grew up in the college town of Njala, with with his older sister until the age thirteen when civil war forced his family to flee the country. He earned his BA in Communications with a focus on media production at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 2000. After graduation, Ali moved to LA to study screenwriting at the New York Film Academy in Burbank, there shooting his first short film, BLVD, with award winning cinematographer, Cira Bola. He returned to Sierra Leone in 2011 and shot his 2nd short film, SALAY, which ultimately became the first Sierra Leonean award winning narrative feature film.
Julia was born in upstate New York and was raised between New York City and Sedona, AZ where her dad lived. Between the ages of nine and seventeen she performed in off off Broadway productions and studied theater and voice. In college, Julia studied anthropology at Northern Arizona University, with particular interest in learning how different cultures express themselves through the arts. Along with performing music, she spent my college years studying South Asian classical music, African dance, and Native American artifacts at archaeological sites near the Grand Canyon. Julia runs a contemporary music program called J3 Music Studios that teaches people of all ages to express themselves creatively through music making.
We have been blessed beyond description to be partnering in ministry with Ali and Julia since 2015. For these past few years, Ali has shared his time between Sierra Leone and their home in Lancaster, PA. He brings passion, a dedicated vision, artistic talent, a connection with the people, language and culture of Sierra Leone, expertise in leadership and most importantly, a heart, as big as Africa itself, for Salone Rising and now Mamaland. What started off as a ministry partnership with Ali and his family has now morphed in a beautiful sense of family between us.
We could not be more grateful that Ali and Julia took the huge and brave step of moving their family from PA to Sierra Leone for 5 months this year to focus on the work there.
In the next couple of blogs, we will be sharing an interview with Ali and Julia, where they detail what led them to move their family to Africa for this season and the exciting ways that all of us partnering together are having a transformative effect on so many men, women and children in Sierra Leone. It will be inspiring to hear more from Ali and Julia, “the boots on the ground” in Sierra Leone, our partners-turned-family, next time.
As Mother Teresa said,
"You can do what I cannot do. I can do what you cannot do. Together we can do great things."
Just wait until you read what we are doing together thanks to your prayers and support!
