While studying abroad, students get to travel somewhere different, see other cultures and meet new people. Sometimes these trips even change their lives.

For Genelle Wilson, a senior in international studies with an African concentration, a study abroad experience in Africa did this two-fold — for her and the orphaned children she cared for during her time there.

Wilson had always been attracted to the often overlooked continent. According to Wilson, the wildlife, animals and people made her decision easy when it came time to choose a study abroad location. The Ghana, Togo and Benin summer program seemed like the perfect fit for her. What she did not know, though, was what she was going to do after the program ended.

“My mom told me, ‘Well, it’s only for a month. Don’t go home. Stay in Africa for a second month because you can’t get a job for only half a summer anyways,’” Wilson said.

Summer 2010 was sounding better and better to Wilson, especially after she figured out what she was going to do after her trip.

“I looked on Google and found an organization called VoltaAid that looked trustworthy,” Wilson said. “You could volunteer at a hospital if you had medical training, you could volunteer at a school if you had teaching experience, or you could volunteer at an orphanage and live there too.”

The third option, Drifting Angels Orphanage, is what caught her eye.

“I really wanted to live at the orphanage and play with the kids,” Wilson said. “I ended up doing a lot of English and math teaching while I was there.”

The transition from an American to an African lifestyle was drastic.

“It was very difficult at first for me,” Wilson said. “I’d say the first week and a half were so hard because the conditions are very poor. The children sleep on concrete floors and they have very thin straw mats where they sleep.”

Besides the children’s sleeping arrangements, Wilson was also exposed to how the 35 children in the orphanage lived. There are many instances where they only eat once a day. Furthermore, the living conditions are not very clean. Similar to other Africans, those who live at the orphanage shower with only a bucket. Whenever a child wets their mat or gets sick on their mat, the most the volunteers can do is hose it off.

“It was very overwhelming to accept the conditions they were living in and to not be constantly upset by it, but it was so easy to fall in love with them immediately,” Wilson said. “That was the best part of it. I immediately fell in love with 35 kids, and I am so grateful for that. They were the part that made it all worthwhile.”

Wilson also noted how different the children at the orphanage were than how she expected them to be.

“These children in Ghana just gravitate toward you and immediately love you,” Wilson said. “They’re so sweet and gentle and just want to get to know who you are.”

The number one cause of death in Ghana is malaria. In fact, children in Ghana get malaria like the common cold in America.

“Sometimes, it would be three of four days before the child would go to the hospital because the people who ran the orphanage didn’t have the money and wanted to wait some time to be sure,” Wilson said. “So a kid would have a 103-degree fever for three days.”

It was hard for Wilson to see that happen to the children, and she ended up advocating for a child who was sick to go to the doctor right away and paid for their visit.

“A week into my experience, I felt like I wasn’t giving the children enough in comparison to how much they were changing my life,” Wilson said.

That was the mindset that inspired Wilson to do something for the children. She created a project called “A Bed For An Angel,” which raises money to give all the children mosquito nets and bunk beds. She started the project the following September, and by sending out emails to her family and friends, letters to churches and talking with people at N.C. State, she had raised enough money four months later. In January 2011, Wilson made $3,000 for her project. In the summer of 2011, she returned to Ghana again.

“My goal kind of changed when I got back to Ghana [and spoke with VoltaAid],” Wilson said. “I realized they needed health insurance first and foremost, so that there would never be an excuse for them to go to the hospital when they got sick. And secondly, that they needed multivitamins every day.”

Childhood is the most im- portant time for people to get the nutrients they need. These orphans were not getting enough because of their eating habits, and these vitamins help with that.

“It was so important that I went back [to Ghana] with an open mind,” Wilson said. “I told people that I was roughly going to buy just mosquito nets and bunk beds, but the real purchase that meant so much was the health insurance and the multivitamins. That’s what I’m most proud about because bunk beds can break and malaria nets can rip, but the health insurance is guaranteeing their future more.”

All of her purchases were made in Ghana to help the local economy. With the remainder of the money, Wilson created a fund for future volunteers to add to so that the children can continue to get more.

“I think the children were very grateful,” Wilson said. “I think the older children knew what was going on, but I never said, ‘This is from Nellie. You’re welcome.’ It was just giving it to them that mattered and getting to see how happy they were when they got [it all].”

According to Wilson, her time in Africa is not one that will ever be forgotten. She said her experiences modified the way she lives her life and completely turned her world upside-down.

“I think that when you see poverty like I did, there’s no turning back or forgetting it,” Wilson said. “These kids completely changed my worldview and helped me realize what I was passionate about, which is helping people. And now, when I see struggle is when I realize how beautiful life is.”