First-year, First Time Travel with UNCG in South Africa  – UNC Greensboro

Carla Smalls shares her story of study abroad, safari and social justice 

When first-year student Carla Smalls initially wanted to apply for the 2024 UNC Greensboro in South Africa summer program, her mom didn’t want her to go so far away. But when the application deadline was extended, she saw it as “a sign,” a chance to reconsider. This time, her mom said, “Go out and do what you want to do.” Smalls was one of ten UNCG first-year students to spend three weeks in Cape Town and the surrounding area this past summer, along with 60 others from around the world. 

A gnu experience 

Now a sophomore majoring in speech pathology and audiology with minors in psychology and American sign language, Smalls had never been out of the U.S., never had a passport, and never flown on a plane. But “UNCG prepared us for everything and made sure we had what we needed,” she says.  

The UNCG South Africa program is designed for first-year students. Students accepted to the program meet throughout the academic year on campus at UNCG to ensure they are receiving the guidance they need on acquiring passports, making travel arrangements, receiving scholarship support and more. Smalls says her experience made her feel safe and taken care of before and during the trip. Along the way, she learned all about international travel. 

The students spent the first week in Cape Town and Oudtshoorn, sightseeing and going on safari. A highlight was feeding elephants. They also saw giraffes and gnus, which Smalls says, “were the weirdest of all. There’s so much history. Everything has a story behind it.”  

She loved the food. “It was so fresh, not processed, and it’s affordable. The most exotic thing I ate was ostrich.”  

The first night, the group went to a festive restaurant where they played drums and danced. “That was my first experience with African culture,” she says. Her group also attended a welcome dinner at a winery and were entertained by dancers and singers. Through these ice-breaker events she developed friendships that are ongoing today. 

International perspectives on social justice 

They spent the remaining two weeks studying at Stellenbosch University. They lived on the campus, which Small describes as “huge,” with its own mall and many types of restaurants. “It’s like its own city,” she says. Small took two classes, one in South African political history and one in social justice and earned three UNCG credits for each. Classes were longer than at UNCG, Smalls says, lasting from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. every day with a break for lunch, so they could earn six credit hours in a two-week span. 

In the social justice class, the students did projects on the Me Too and Black Lives Matter movements. They had discussions with students from France, Hong Kong, and other places. “We all talked about what we experienced in our own countries, and it was great to hear the other viewpoints. We [African Americans] were seen just as Americans, while those living there were the Africans.” 

Smalls, who grew up in Rocky Mount, NC, had never heard the word apartheid. “I knew who Nelson Mandela was, but I just knew his name. The Africans know firsthand what a change he made in their country. I became even more sympathetic to what their country went through with apartheid than what our country experienced with slavery.” 

Inspiration to do more 

Smalls came home a changed person. “The experience humbled me. We have so much here in the U.S., and while I wasn’t ungrateful before, I learned to just take in everything,” she says. “Being in Africa prepared me for something more, some way to make a difference in the world, but I don’t yet know what it is. Right now, I’m just telling my family and friends what it was like and sharing the opinions of others, helping to get their stories out.” 

Story by Mary Daily

Photography courtesy of Carla Smalls