‘Jana Hilaire’ isn’t a name you have likely heard before.
As Three Angels Christian Academy’s School Program Assistant, most everything Jana does is behind the scenes. But it is her passion for education and drive for excellence that brings magic to our education programming, and it is her exceptional organizational skills that make it all work.
As a child in Haiti, Jana moved up through the public school system where curriculum was poor and the teachers often failed to show up (***see note at the end of this story.) It would have been very easy to simply drop out of school, as many of her classmates did, but Jana’s vision for her future fueled her determination and academic performance and she persevered through elementary school, middle school, and finally all the way through high school. She beat the odds and graduated, something less than 20 percent of Haitians achieve. This personal struggle sparked a fire in Jana that would blaze her path in life.
“After graduating high school, I went to study accounting but due to lack of finances I didn’t finish it. It never stopped me from learning. I studied a lot at home. Later on I got a job my first job in the library.” - Jana
Jana worked for three years at her first job in a library, and she gained skills there that brought her to Three Angels where she has supplied order and inspiration for the last eight years. As School Program Assistant, Jana wears many hats, including greeting the children and counting them as they arrive each morning, planning and organizing school events, inventorying books, and making sure the school office runs like clockwork. She also delivers gifts to the children that their Student Sponsors have sent and makes sure the Sponsors get a photo and a “thank you” from that child. Perhaps the most challenging part of Jana’s role, however, is managing and providing mentorship for the Secondary Scholarship Program, which enables our best-performing sixth-grade graduates with the opportunity to continue on to high school. This is a complicated and challenging job, since these graduates attend one of two partnering local high schools and are no longer on Three Angels’ campus every day, but Jana’s passion to see these kids excel and build a strong foundation for their future overcomes every hurdle.
“I like school administration and I’m passionate about working with kids! I love working with high schoolers because they pay attention; they want to listen and they give their best when I work with them. They encourage me to do my job better.” - Jana
The Secondary Scholarship Students check in with Jana every two weeks, and she tracks their progress and works with each of them to stay on course. These kids know that she cares about them, and they know they can go to her for both guidance and encouragement. She wisely understands that everyone she meets has a different life experience and perspective, and she is gifted with the ability to “step into their shoes” to see things from their unique vantage point, making her all the more valuable in this role.
“I am a collaborator; I’m flexible and I work with love.” - Jana
This gift benefits Jana’s coworkers as well as the students she mentors. She is quite fond of her peers and especially enjoys morning devotions each day with them, where they sing, pray, and share verses together.
“(Jana) … has a huge heart for education and for building up the families that we serve. She is very encouraging to the students.”
- Lisa Berg, Mission Director
There have been many events and moments with Three Angels that have brought joy to Jana. One such memory is of a rare field trip to our Farm. The students learned about growing produce as they touched and tasted fruits and vegetables straight from the garden, some of which were new to them. This hands-on experience is the kind of enriched education that can spark a love for learning, and it’s one Jana would love for these kids to experience more.
Jana dreams of expanding Three Angels’ educational programming to include higher grades. She even dreams that one day Three Angels will move beyond our local community to build schools all over Haiti so that every Haitian child would have the opportunity to learn and build a better future. For now, she pours her heart and soul into the children she works with daily, praying that every one of them will move onto high school and then university so that they, in turn, can invest back into other children at Three Angels.
“My vision for Haiti is to see this country being changed, to become a stable and safe place with affordable health programs and schools for all children.” - Jana
Jana is single and lives with her two nieces. In her free time, you might find her reading her Bible or researching education. A rare treat for her is spending time at the beach with her friends from work.
*** Public school technically but not functionally exists in Haiti. Out of over 15,000 primary schools in Haiti, 90% are non-public and privately operated by communities, religious organizations, and NGOs. As was the case in Jana’s experience, it is all too common for teachers in public schools not to show for months at a time and for students to drop out of school at a very young age, having acquired little to no education up to that point. This is why we at Three Angels place such a high priority on quality education that is accessible even to the poorest in our local community. Education is the tool with the most potential for the greatest long-term change.