Children’s Academy student, Hasmarah, on the importance of joy

Recently, we invited some of our students at the Children’s Academy to write about a value that is important to them. In this short piece, Hasmarah talks about the importance of joy and points to one of her teachers as an inspiration.

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My name is Hasmarah and I am 12 years old. I live with my family and I’m in 7th grade at The Children’s Academy and Learning Center.

I want to write about joy today. Joy is one of our monthly values at my school. Joy is a feeling of goodness, it’s when someone has a happy heart, when they feel satisfied and show delight. It’s when someone shares these feelings with others. Especially in Haiti, when someone has joy in their heart, it helps them to have less stress.

One of our school leaders always has joy. Her name is Esther. Her heart is never unhappy. This means that the people who are with her also feel happy. When you share your joy with others, it can help fend off sickness and discouragement and other negative thoughts that might be in someone’s mind.

The example of Esther and the way that she radiates joy inspires me to always want to share a little joke or smile with my friends at school, especially when I see that they are sad.