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Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to mainly clear skies after midnight. Low 54F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%..
Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to mainly clear skies after midnight. Low 54F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Serving Sun Valley, Ketchum, Hailey, Bellevue and Carey
A group of American and South African students pose together at Planet Park.
Rhodes University clock tower in Makhanda, South Africa.
A plate of South African food.
An elephant at Addo Elephant Park in rural South Africa.
A group of American and South African students pose together at Planet Park.
Rhodes University clock tower in Makhanda, South Africa.
After spending a little more than two weeks in South Africa, Wood River High School student Jasmine Santacruz came to realize that there are more similarities among Americans and South Africans than she might have initially thought—but the same cannot be said for the critters that inhabit the two countries.
“One night, we’re all sitting in our room, and this absolutely massive spider comes in, and a bunch of us are extremely scared of spiders,” she said. “On the trip, we practiced a no-killing-bugs kind of thing. So we were trying to trap it in this bucket, and we were cheering on the girls to try to get it out while other girls were hidden in their beds, scared for their lives.
“Spiders are definitely bigger in South Africa.”
Santacruz is one of 13 local students that traveled to Makhanda, a city of 140,000 on the Eastern Cape of the country, for a service trip in late June with the Blaine County-based Flourish Foundation’s Compassionate Leaders Program. The students, who fundraised a combined $50,000 to finance the trip, worked at two schools—one in Makhanda and one in a nearby town called Riebeek East—cleaning up, repainting walls and building playgrounds.
The program is designed for high school students looking to engage in volunteering. The program hosts “weekly meetings that impart skills focused in attention, empathy, kindness and compassion,” according to Flourish’s website. This is done through two curricula, said Program Director Noah Kosky: “one focused on happiness, and one on secular ethics.”
"We speak a lot with our group on the dangers of ‘voluntourism,’ and it’s really important to be thoughtful on how we show up in the community, and making sure we are actually there to listen and collaborate."
These meetings run throughout the school year. At the end of the year, program participants travel abroad for a service trip. Previous groups have done volunteer work in India, Mexico, Morocco and the Philippines, among other places. This year, South Africa was chosen thanks to a local connection.
Julia Heemstra runs a program under the Flourish Foundation’s umbrella in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Heemstra grew up in Makhanda, and many times over the years recommended to Kosky to take a trip there.
“She would say, ‘You should go to Makhanda, it’s so amazing,’ and then, due to COVID, India and Morocco weren’t possibilities, so Julia introduced us to some people from Makhanda on a Zoom call, and we went from there,” Kosky said.
Kosky took a three-week trip to Makhanda in January to get a feel for the city and see if the group could play a meaningful role there.
“It was helpful to get some boots on the ground and really see if this was going to be something beneficial for the community,” he said. “We speak a lot with our group on the dangers of ‘voluntourism,’ and it’s really important to be thoughtful on how we show up in the community, and making sure we are actually there to listen and collaborate.”
Ultimately, the group completed a few different projects. Most notably, they partnered with Nombulelo Secondary School in Makhanda to make repairs to and build a playground at a rural elementary school an hour’s drive on a bumpy road from the city.
“We added to a garden, repainted steps, and built a playground in a community called Riebeek East, which is a super small agricultural township,” recent Wood River graduate Adri Meyer said. “The principal of the school was telling us about how all the families who live in the township struggle and live in poverty. A lot of them get government stipends, which are only about $50 a month.”
The material quality of the South African schools compared to American ones was something the visiting students noticed immediately.
“Their schools were kind of out of date, and the students said they didn’t have money for renovations,” Santacruz said.
“They all had old wooden desks and chalk boards,” said Melanie Gonzales, a 17-year-old rising senior at Silver Creek High School. “One of the libraries had a Promethean board,” a type of digital whiteboard, “and the students were all so excited to show us.”
“There is a Zulu phrase called ‘ubuntu,’ translated to ‘humanity,"...That pretty much [described] the whole mission behind the trip: to create shared humanity.”
Gonzales said that all of her high school classrooms having their own Promethean board was something she previously took for granted before this trip.
“There is a Zulu phrase called ‘ubuntu,’ ... translated to ‘humanity,’ which we heard at the beginning of the trip,” Meyer said. “That pretty much [described] the whole mission behind the trip: to create shared humanity. I think that word encompasses the trip perfectly.”
The efforts were mutual. The students said they felt welcomed by the locals before they even managed to get off the bus. “As we were driving into town, there weren’t many cars on the road. People walking on the street were just waving at us,” Wood River class of 2022 alumna Ashley Eggers said.
“I was super nervous to meet the [South African students] at first, but they were just so sweet and welcoming,” Santacruz said. “We walked around the town and just got to talk and bond together.”
A plate of South African food.
A traditional braai, a South African gathering similar to a barbecue, was a highlight for many of the students. The menu included flame roasted warthog (which attendees reported was delicious) and roosterkoek, a South African bread that looks a bit like a ciabatta roll. The cookout was hosted by the mother of one of the South African students in the group. The students ate, lounged in the sun and played a mix of American and South African card games as the sun set.
“It was really wonderful to be able to connect with this incredible South African family and experience this braai,” Kosky said.
The braai was also the first experience the Americans had with load shedding: a practice common in developing countries trying to preserve power. At different points throughout the day—sometimes scheduled, sometimes not—entire grids are shut down for hours at a time to preserve electricity.
“We were lucky enough that the farm we stayed on didn’t have load shedding,” Santacruz said, “but one night we were at dinner and all the lights went off, and people just turned on little lights they carried around. People make sure to do things like charge their phones when the electricity is on. You have to plan your whole day around it.”
The farm the group stayed at was a unique experience all in its own. It relied on solar energy for power and a spring for water. This meant no load shedding, but it also meant very little warm water.
“Only two showers had warm water, and often it would shut off in the middle of your shower,” Meyer said.
“The bathroom situation was hard. One of the schools didn’t have a sink to wash your hands, just a jug of water. I definitely learned to be more conscious of the amount of water I use, because it’s something we take for granted,” Santacruz said.
Another jarring experience for the American students came on a visit in Makhanda to Planet Park. The park used to be the site of a dump, and trash still covers much of the area.
An elephant at Addo Elephant Park in rural South Africa.
“There is a toxic river that runs through the park. It’s brown, and if you touch it, you’ll get sick,” Santacruz said. “Like, if you’re playing and your ball goes in the river, the ball is gone.” Spending time to clean up the park was another service effort the group is proud of.
The Compassionate Leaders Program has been sending students on service trips for a decade. What made this one different, according to Kosky, is South Africa’s history.
“The country is still living in the shadow of apartheid, and that’s what is so confronting about being in South Africa. I think that is what makes it such a special place. You can be in this situation that’s both beautiful and confronting, and it makes you gracious for being alive in the way that we are,” he said.
The group took lessons, not just memories, back with them to Blaine County. Eggers said she thought of home as the group did their last activity together.
“On the last morning, we went to the top of Table Mountain and had this incredible view of the sunrise and of this cloud floating over the city and the ocean,” she said. “I saw some of the best sunrises I have ever seen over there. I was thinking, man, maybe they won’t be as good when I get home, but I also thought, ‘It will be nice to be back under familiar stars.’” 
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