Elkhorn girls leave for Africa on Humanitarian Trip
Chant and Frattinger excited for upcoming trip this week
May 12, 2025, 10:58 am
Ashley Bochek
Sara Chant and Shaylee Frattinger of Elkhorn leave for Zambia, Africa this Friday.
There they will be providing child care and volunteering at local day cares for two weeks.
Both Frattinger and Chant are home from university for the summer and excited for the upcoming trip.
“I grew up on a farm just west of Elkhorn with my mom, dad, and three siblings. I graduated from Elkhorn in 2024, and then moved to Saskatoon this past fall to start my Bachelor of Science in Nursing,” Frattinger said.
Chant attends the University of Regina. “I am going into my third year of my Bachelor’s in Education at the University of Regina. I work at the Elkwood Manor in Elkhorn. I am home for the summer with my family.
“I have always been passionate about helping others, so I thought that this project would be great for me and to travel a little bit too,” Chant explained.
Frattinger says they have three connecting flights to get to Africa.
“We fly out of Winnipeg May 16, myself, my mom, Terri, and Sara to Africa. We have three flights to get there. The country is Zambia, and the city is called Livingstone where we are going.”
Chant adds, “We will be there for about two and a half weeks. We are going to be volunteering at a children’s day care. Where we will teach kids reading and writing skills, come up with activities for them.”
Volunteering in child care
Chant explains their trip is organized through the International Volunteer Headquarters organization.
“We are going through International Volunteer Headquarters. They’re basically a volunteer, for-profit organization that does a bunch of volunteer projects all over the world in so many different countries, where you can volunteer with animals, people, the environment, there are so many options.”
Frattinger adds the kids will be fairly young. “We are volunteers in child care with ages one to six. My mom, Terri, is doing Health Care volunteer.
“We also have a few fun things planned while we are there like a safari and a sunset cruise. We will spend time learning about the culture as well.”
Planning the trip
Frattinger explains this trip was in the planning stages for awhile.
“Years ago, Hannah Martin from Elkhorn went on a humanitarian trip with Live Different—an organization—and they built a house. My mom then came to the school a few years ago and gave a presentation on the humanitarian organization called Live Different to see if there was interest and there was, but lots were on the fence. So then we then decided on a Thailand trip to help women who have been trafficked and we had a group together for that and started fundraising, but that fell through.”
Chant adds, “We ended up switching up our original trip plans in December last year and decided on Africa.”
Importance of trip
Chant says she spends a lot of time helping different sport clubs within the community, and enjoys volunteering.
“I have done a lot of volunteer work and have helped with many projects within my community and I love being part of the community.
“I played school sports in high school, I am a figure skating coach—in Elkhorn and Kennedy, and so I like to be very involved so I thought this would be an amazing experience to expand that, but also be able to travel and give myself an opportunity to see different perspectives of the world.”
Frattinger explains they want to help improve and add to the Zambian kids’ education.
“I think it is important for us to see the difference between our lives and the opportunities we have here compared to the kids in Africa.
“I think it is important for them to get the best education they can as well, so as volunteers if we can go—we are only going for two weeks, but then if people can keep doing it then every bit helps. I just think education is very important and that is something we can help with.”
Chant feels this experience will help her in her future career as an educator.
“I feel like this is also going to help me develop more as a teacher as well—experiencing a different culture, a new country, and how they go about learning and their education. I have been told that the children need to know both their native language and English to have greater opportunities or else it is really hard to get well -paying jobs and provide for their families. I think it is really important to go there and teach English, but also it is such a cool experience to see their culture and the different way of living.”
Gifts for kids in Africa
Chant says they will be taking souvenirs to give to the kids.
“We were thinking of taking about 50 tshirts of various sizes and putting the Canada flag on them because we were told from the volunteer headquarters that the children really like Canada and anything brought from here. We plan to take some blow-up beach volleyballs, kids’ toys, and I have some books that I am going to take, as well as some math and English flashcards for them.”
Very excited
Frattinger says she is looking forward to travelling to Zambia and meeting the kids. “I am very excited and my mom is really excited. I am excited to see the kids, learn a new culture, and see some new places. It is going to be cool.”
Chant adds, “I am also very excited. It is surreal. It’s like ‘I am going to
Africa next week’ that doesn’t seem real. We are down to the last week and getting everything organized and I am going to start packing soon, so I am getting really excited.”
Bringing joy to Africa
Chant says she hopes to bring some happiness to the kids within the two weeks. “I am hoping to bring some joy to these kids and show them that they have a purpose just as much as anyone else in this world. Show them that they can still make a difference and impact on the world—is what I hope to show them—giving them hope and some positivity into their community. I hope I can touch as many people as I can while I am there.
“I also want to learn some of their native language, I want them to teach me a little bit,” Chant said.
“I want them to feel like they have a purpose, and see the smiles on their faces. I have heard stories that kids there are happy seeing new faces—I don’t think they are hard to please,” Frattinger added.
Lots of support
Family, friends and community members have gladly helped support Chant and Frattinger on their trip.
“We have had so much support with this trip as well—the community, family, and extended family, and friends,” Frattinger said. “Lots of people from the community have told us how cool they think our trip is, and are excited to see what we do there and can’t wait to hear about our stories when we get back.”
Chant says they held a 50/50 that helped their fundraising tremendously.
“We have had a lot of support from our community. We did a 50/50 fundraiser and it was amazing, the support was amazing. We have had so much support from our community and especially the care home where Shaylee and I work.
“My boss has been really understanding about me starting work later in my position this summer because of this trip. I have had loads of support from my family with helping me fundraise and get details on insurance and everything I need to go. There has been so much support and we are just so grateful.”
Chant explains the funds will be contributed to helping their volunteer efforts. “All of our funds are going directly toward the trip and the volunteering aspect of it. They go toward getting things to take to the kids such as school supplies or anything like that, helping us with our accommodations while we are there in order to stay the whole time—all the funds are being directly put into the volunteer portion of the trip. We’ve also had to get a lot of vaccines for ourselves in order to be safe over there as well.”
Anyone can reach out to either girl to donate if interested.
“Reaching out to Shaylee or myself personally, anyone can donate if they are interested and we can let them know anything they are curious about the trip, where they can donate, and where their money will be directly going. We appreciate the amount of support we have received so far and we cannot wait,” Chant said.
If you are interested in helping support Sara and Shaylee on their humanitarian trip to Africa to help and teach young kids, you can contact:
Sara Chant: 204-851-2992
Shaylee Frattinger: 204-596-5544
