CBS47's Mike Scott visited San Joaquin Memorial where two honor students traveled around the world to help others.
Seniors Jordan Huelskamp went to Africa and Juliet Gause went to Fiji, not on vacation, but to donate their time for worthy causes.
Jordan left her comfortable life in Fresno to live with a Maasai tribe in Africa, where she and other volunteers built eight bathrooms for the tribe and also tried to educate the tribe's children about serious sexual diseases that are common in Africa. "One in five people in our village tested positive for HIV. And even with that staggering statistic, allot of people had no idea really what HIV was, what the immune system is... So we taught them about keeping yourself safe, safe sex techniques and just how to be healthy so your HIV does not progress into AIDS," said Jordan.
Juliet's visit to Fiji was much different. Her group brought donated eye glasses to people in remote villages, giving sight to people who have never owned glasses. "We used the eye glass charts that you use at your eye doctor and we just posted them to like a palm tree or the side of a building. It took about 5 minutes to diagnose what they needed and then we'd go in and look through our bags and then find them a pair... A lot of them couldn't read anymore or they couldn't see very far, and when you'd give them a pair of glasses and they could read their Bible again, then they would be so happy," said Juliet.
Jordan said, "There's definitely a culture shock going into Africa but there's just as much culture shock coming back to America. I found that the lights in the supermarket were really bright, the music that my friends were playing in the car was way too loud..."
Juliet said, "It was kind of weird to come back and I had a bed, and carpet on my floor, and a running shower that was just mine, and a toilet that was just mine."
Both girls hope to return to their far away places some day.
Congratulations to both girls for the great opportunities and for giving of their time and talents, and congratulations to San Joaquin Memorial for being CBS47's Cool School.
