How a Year in Africa Changed the Life of a Local High School Student

Shawna Heilman has trouble pinning down exactly what it is about the African continent that pulls at her, but she says its lure is unmistakable and ever present. 

“My heart is in Africa,” the Westonka High School senior said.

Heilman is back with her class after spending her entire junior year in South Africa as an exchange student. As she sat talking about her time in and around the city of Johannesburg, Heilman reflected on an experience that tested her physically, emotionally and academically.

The Journey to Johannesburg

Heilman’s road to Africa began well before she entered high school, but it was paved during her freshman year with a classroom lesson that incorporated guest speakers who had either lived in Africa or spent significant time on the continent. 

“After that, I wanted to go—there was nothing that was going to stop me,” she said.

Heilman spoke with her mom, Nancy, about her African dream and was at first met with a lukewarm response.

“She said I could join the Peace Corps after college or something,” Shawna said. “She didn’t realize how soon it would be.”

Heilman began exploring how a high school girl from Lake Minnetonka goes about relocating to Africa and was pleasantly surprised to learn that the Mound Rotary was interested in sponsoring a foreign exchange student. 

“I was the first one in like 30 years,” Shawna said. “We had nothing to do with the Rotary before this whole process and didn’t know anything about them. They were great throughout the whole process.”

Shawna’s “wish list” of countries was topped by South Africa. She was first offered a chance to go to Columbia. 

“I was actually quite upset because that was one of my filler options,” she said.

In January 2010 the phone rang with news that a slot for New Zealand opened up. Shawna’s mom answered the phone and conveyed her daughter’s wish to be assigned South Africa. 

“A half-hour later the lady called and said, ‘Yup, I can open something up for her to go to South Africa,’” Shawna said. “I came back from a run, and my mom told me. I just started crying. I was so happy.”

Over the next few months, Shawna wrote an extensive research paper, attended a series of lessons on how to acclimate to a new country and the struggles exchange students deal with—struggles she would soon find herself confronting head-on. 

Arrival

Remnants of the World Cup still lingered when Shanwna Heilman landed in South Africa last July. She would spend her first few weeks living with a host family about two hours outside of Johannesburg. 

“I was excited,” she said. “I was finally here. I traveled 9,000 miles to get here and spent 20-plus hours on an airplane and have a full year of opportunity ahead of me. If I only knew that day how hard it would be.”

The first few weeks in South Africa were spent acclimating herself to the new culture and surroundings and getting to know her new host family. 

“I only stayed at that house for about a month, and it was really hard because I was the only daughter they’d ever had and it was kind of a big experiment,” she said.

Shawna said her host father was very hard on her and there were more than a few nights when she cried herself to sleep. 

“I would just say ‘I want to go home, I’ll just leave early. I can’t handle this whole year ahead of me,’” she said. 

She missed her friends, her sister and said in retrospect that she spoke with her parents a bit too much.

“They knew I was struggling, and it made things even more difficult,” she said. “I actually think it made the transition harder.” 

Heilman moved in with her second host family after about a month.

“It wasn’t easy,” she said. “I had only been there a few weeks and was just trying to figure out what was going on. Now I had to move on to a new family and sort of start all over.” 

Shawna’s mother says she ached for her daughter as she struggled to adapt and there were many nights spent tossing and turning as she worried about her child’s welfare.

“I don't know if most people realize how difficult it is to live in a foreign country as a teenager,” Nancy Heilman said. “I don't know if I could do it.”

School in South Africa 

The first school Shawna attended was English-speaking, small and the students were mostly black.

“English is the median language of South Africa, so the blacks usually go to the English schools so they can learn and get a good education,” Shawna said. “The first day of school was quite overwhelming.” 

Heilman said she became depressed and would sometimes lie in bed all day on weekends, playing games on her phone. She made friends but found herself missing Minnesota and her family life back home.

“It was a very rough start,” she said. “Things were kind of rough all year.”

In January, Heilman transferred to an Africans (a Dutch-based language) speaking school. 

“It was easier,” she said. “The first few weeks I had a lot of fun meeting new people and everyone was interested in the new exchange student.”

By this time Heilman was living with her third host family, and she and her new host mom spent time together learning Africans and talking. 

An avid runner, she excelled in the equivalent of track in the U.S.

“I had a lot of fun,” she said. “Just to be with the other kids and being active was nice.”

An arrangement crafted with the help of advisors at Westonka High School ensured all of Heilman’s coursework counted toward her graduation requirements. She has to make up a few classes, such as biology and history, but is on track to graduate on time with her class this spring.

Good with the Bad

Heilman makes no effort to hide the fact that much of her year in South Africa was filled with challenges. She was bitten by dogs—twice—and constantly battled homesickness. Still, there were plenty of bright spots. She kept a blog detailing both.

In November 2010, she joined other exchange students on a tour that started in Durbin and wound through Cape Town before heading back up the coast. She saw lions, rode ostriches, visited the Kangor Caves and explored Cape Town.

“It was a good trip, because they were all going through the same things I was and we got to connect with each other,” she said.

She also ran the Kruger National Park Half-Marathon, climbed Cape Town’s famous Table Mountain and ran barefoot.

She even shot an impala during a hunting trip with one of her host fathers.

She joined a running club outside of school and logged many a mile on the roads and alleys around her host family's property.

A lifelong piano player, Heilman also found peace by playing for hours on end.

“It was one of the only things I could do to really express myself,” she said. “It was good to get out all of these emotions I had inside.”

For Christmas 2010, Shawna’s host family headed out into “the bush” for a night sleeping under the stars—a family tradition. There was no caroling, no snow and not much of a tree, either, but she says it was a great holiday.

New Year’s Eve was spent lying on a large rock and gazing up at the stars with her host family and their friends.

“That was a good experience,” she said.

Back in Westonka 

After returning to Minnesota in July, Heilman says she had little interest in talking about or reminiscing about her year as an exchange student. Six months later, those sentiments have softened, and she now looks back with longing at her African experience.

Heileman is interested in pursuing a career path centered on teaching English as a second language (ESL), and is examining colleges with overseas mission programs.

Through Facebook she still keeps in contact with a few of the school friends she met in South Africa and has on a few occasions called one of her host mothers to talk and catch up.

Re-adjusting back to life in the U.S. has been a process, but Heilman says she has found her footing. She went to state as an individual cross country runner last season and now finds herself stressed about items such as her school work, college applications and social life.

“There were a lot of hard times, and maybe I remember those too much,” she said. “I gained so much, though, and it’s OK because I grew so much as a person.”