POLSON — Crazy things can happen at the Polson Cherry Festival. Just ask Lesley Dubay.

The 72-year-old Polson resident got more than she bargained for when she attended this year’s festival, as she came away from the annual event with plans to head to Africa to assist with humanitarian work.

The unexpected twist came about when Dubay visited a booth being run by two young women from Mosaic – a non-profit organization dedicated to helping orphans in South Africa. The young women at the table were seeking to generate interest for an upcoming service mission slated for Oct. 15 – Oct. 26.

Initially, Dubay’s husband joked that she should go, and the seed had been sown. With some extra encouragement from the Mosaic representatives present, Dubay says that the plan “evolved from there.”

Mosaic was founded as a Christian organization, though volunteers of any denominational background are welcome to lend a hand with their projects abroad.

“It doesn’t matter what faith you are – it matters that you have a belief,” Dubay says of the organization’s mission to help those in need.  

Mosaic’s work in South Africa focuses primarily on building brick houses for single mothers and orphaned children, many of whom are afflicted by HIV, which affects a staggering 18% of the country’s adult population according to a World Health Organization report from 2008.

Dubay will be traveling to the rural village of Ikageng, situated in the northern part of the country. She will be joined on the trip by eleven other volunteers from northwest Montana. Seven of her companions are from Plains, while the remaining four hail from Missoula. The group is led by Tom Hall, a Methodist minister from Plains who has made more than a half-dozen service trips to Ikageng.

Dubay, herself, has also been to South Africa previously. Eight years ago, she was in the country for another two-week stint of volunteer service at an orphanage filled with HIV/AIDS patients.

Her powerful experience provided a new perspective on the relative opulence of American lifestyles.

“We need to remember to be grateful every single day. We just don’t face the things that they face,” says Dubay.

While the Mosaic mission’s immediate goal is to build a house and provide villagers with some training in basic career skills, Dubay says that establishing connections with the local people is one of the most important – and most rewarding – aspects of the trip.

“Most of all, we need to connect with the people and let them know that they are loved,” Dubay said.

Although the group will be doing hard work to help villagers contending with abject poverty, Dubay is eager to return to Africa.

“There’s something magic about that place,” she says of South Africa. “I certainly plan on going back if all goes well.”