Monday, April 24
UAB’s largest study abroad group to date — 22 students, two parents, and six faculty — prepares to leave Birmingham for their 15-hour flight to Johannesburg, where they’ll begin their two-week journey through South Africa.
Along the way, the group will explore South African health care systems, do service learning projects, and meet with occupational therapy students at the University of Cape Town. They’ll also travel through Pilanesburg Game Reserve in search of lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos, and buffalos and tour the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Robben Island and the Cradle of Humankind, which contains the largest—and oldest—concentration of human ancestral remains in the world.
Department Chair Gavin Jenkins, who began planning for this trip in 2019 only to have it derailed by the pandemic, said at this moment he was feeling “excited, anxious, relieved… in fact a buffet of emotions to reach this point after nearly 5 years since the original idea!”
Tuesday, April 25 – 39,000 feet
Our first glimpse of Africa as we cross the shoreline of Namibia to head over the eastern edge of the Kalahari desert on route to Johannesburg, a sight we were all thrilled to see!!!
~Gavin Jenkins, chair of the UAB Department of Occupational Therapy
The Kahlari, a 350,000-square-mile savanna that covers areas of Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa, get its name from the Tswana word “Kgala,” which means “the great thirst,” and has vast areas of red sand without any permanent surface water.
Tuesday, April 25 – ORTIA
After 8,500 miles of traveling we arrive in Joburg!! Tired but the adventure is really happening!!
~Gavin Jenkins, chair of the UAB Department of Occupational Therapy
The airport is named after Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo (1917–1993), a South African anti-apartheid politician and activist who served as president of the African National Congress from 1967 to 1991.
“The gladdest moment in human life, methinks, is a departure into unknown lands. The blood flows with the fast circulation of childhood.”
~Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890), the English explorer and poet.
“There’s no better travel group than with OTs and future OTs! The start of our journey in Birmingham airport and after an 18 hours travel day ending in Johannesburg airport. Let the adventure begin!” ~Rachel Ashcraft, UAB OT Faculty