Valparaiso-based Baptist Children’s Home (BCH) is pleased to announce it has hired D. Darius Smith to help expand the organization’s Hearts of Compassion initiative in Liberia. Smith is a Liberian citizen with a unique professional background in aviation, human resources, and data management.
Hearts of Compassion provides international children with the chance to thrive by receiving an education and other resources to support them into adulthood. The program operates in seven countries currently and provides houseparents in small family settings with support for orphans and semi-orphans in their care. The families also receive mentoring by the local church. Hearts of Compassion’s goal is to give each child a permanent family until adulthood.
Smith’s professional experience comes from a diverse set of positions in the aviation/airlines industries, combined with tourism and hotel support, customer relationship management, and database administration. He has worked as a flight operations officer/flight dispatch (FOO) and database specialist, and has strong technical knowledge in airline transport, network monitoring, and client support. Smith graduated with distinction from the Universal School of Aviation in Lagos, Nigeria.
Personally, Smith is married and has a new baby boy. He has a passion for education, particularly in engaging young people in aviation through the National Aviation Students Association of Liberia, Inc. (NASAL), which he established in 2019. NASAL is a non-profit student-based organization and the only recognized and well-known organization for students’ educational activities nationwide.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Darius into Hearts of Compassion in Libera. His proven track record of hard work and personal betterment will be an inspiration to the children in our care. Coming from a single-parent home, Darius has endured many personal struggles and has consistently found creative ways to develop his career and his future. For the children in BCH’s care, his example will be life-changing and we’re excited to include him in our ministry,” said Linda C. Brooks, President and CEO of BCH.
