ncm2021 Diara Jackson

A surprising thing happened when Diara Jackson-Davis began volunteering with Nabhi Christian Ministries to complete a community service mandate for 9th grade graduation: She overcome her shyness and found love among a new group of people. It’s a good lesson for a young girl to learn. Not long ago, Diara was a remarkable student, but she worried about pleasing others.Diara, 15, grew up in Penn Hills, where she made straight As at Propel Braddock Hills … until she received her first B in fifth grade. She remembers that day well: carrying her report card home on the bus, nervously trying to think of a way to keep her mom from seeing it. But when she got home, she simply handed her mom the report card and burst into tears, apologizing. She told her mom that her teacher probably gave her a B because she didn’t like Diara. “But my mom hugged me and told me a B isn’t a bad grade, and that I hadn’t let her down,” she says. Today, as a 9th grader, Diara still makes As and Bs in her classes and excels in math and science. She takes higher math and in 12th grade will take AP calculus. She dreams of becoming a medical scientist so she can help people, using the power of science and math. Despite all of her academic achievements, the Nabhi Christian Ministries honor will be her first award. When she began volunteering for Nabhi in October 2020, “It was my first time ever volunteering for anyone,” she says. “When I found out that I needed to complete at least 30 hours of community service to graduate the 9th grade, I was shocked and wasn’t sure how I would get this done. My mother suggested volunteering with Nabhi Christian Ministries because my Aunt Shelly would be a minister at the church soon and my Aunt Ainslie would be volunteering there sometimes as well.” On her first day of volunteering, Diara was shy being around new people, especially because the COVID-19 restrictions were still in place. She was tasked with helping to decorate the dining hall. When Pastor Jacque Fielder and Miss Alice asked her which color she thought would better suit the blue tablecloths — silver or gold, Diara suggested that gold would complement the room’s grey walls. “I began to feel less shy because I started to get the sense that these people valued and respected my opinion,” she recalls. She helped to hang curtains, spread the tablecloths and arrange the seating. Even though she was still felt a little shy, she managed to follow instructions. And after this experience, Diara began to put her all into any assignment or task she was given. Then she returned to the church to see her Aunt Shelly become a minister.“ The service was beautiful, and everything was just perfect,” Diara says. “My aunt told her testimony, which I was surprised about because I didn’t know that my Aunt Shelly’s life used to be like that.” When they went to the dining hall after the service, Diara began to help serve the guests and realized that she had decorated this room for her Aunt Shelly’s graduation. “It was a surprising and wonderful moment,” she says. Diara returned to the church to volunteer many times, even after she completed her community service hours. She particularly liked helping with the Nabhi food distribution to less-fortunate people during the pandemic, putting boxes of food into people’s cars or driving boxes of food to people’s houses. “I even witnessed the Nabhi community give a couple boxes to the school across the street from them,” she says. “That day I realized that I like helping people, especially those in need.” One of her favorite times volunteering happened around Christmas: the church toy drive. “They needed someone to dress up as a Christmas tree and no one else was tall enough, so I had to do it,” she says. That day, she took pictures of the event and helped to hand out toys out to kids. She found herself telling jokes, laughing and talking with others in the Nabhi community. Around Easter, she agreed to dress up as Mrs. Easter Bunny to give eggs to kids and take pictures with them. These days, Diara considers the Nabhi community part of her extended family. She thinks Leah Kirkland is crazy and funny and nice. Being around high-risk loved ones, including my grandmother, mother and young nephew, I often worried about contracting the virus and spreading it.” But with the Nabhi family, her worries would ease. She felt safe and comfortable in that environment and knew that if she had forgotten about the COVID restrictions, someone would remind her. “Volunteering at Nabhi Ministries has taught me to be more patient, to listen to everything to get it right the first time,” Diara says. “It has taught me that sometimes it’s better to work together as a team, and that church isn’t a building — it’s the people in the building. I’ve gained another family and another place to call home.” Determining who someone is requires considering how others view them and how they view themselves. #18ricco #NABHI #DiaraJackson