One of the things that I enjoy is taking the time to sit down and write to you about camp in South Africa. It is a way for me to look back with perspective on what has happened and to connect you to what you are creating. I hope that you enjoy reading about our most recent two camps and the impact that your support is having on HIV/AIDS affected children of South Africa.

Global Camps Africa is spreading its wings and adding important new facets to our organization--we’re multiplying the impact of our program by providing additional training to other South African NGOs. This enables us to increase exponentially the number of children that will be positively impacted by our mission.

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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, June 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- While all eyes are on the World Cup in South Africa, local NGOs caution that school closings, influx of tourists, and relaxation of border controls leave children susceptible to exploitation, petty crime, prostitution, and drug dealing. South Africa is already riddled with one of the highest prevalence rates of HIV/AIDS. But a unique collaboration of Africans and Americans is tackling the problem.

Camps for youth in Africa to teach life skills have grown in popularity. Global Camps Africa (GCA) was founded in 2004 as an HIV/AIDS prevention/education program by Phil Lilienthal, a Virginia attorney who ran Camp Winnebago in Maine for 30 years. Six years and 33 camps later, GCA has reached more than 4,200 children in South Africa.

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The GCA World Cup Fundraiser on Saturday in New York City was a huge success as more than 200 people packed Vintage Irving/Side Bar to support Global Camps Africa and watch the U.S. tie England.

Rima Fakih, Miss USA, spoke at the start of the event and stayed for the entire match.  She also donated a dinner date to the silent auction for two guests to join her at a NYC restaurant in the coming weeks.  Many thanks to Rima for her generosity.

The event raised $11,500 for Global Camps Africa, and with matching gifts from several employers, the total is expected to top $18,000--enough to fund almost one-third of the entire cost of the September camp.

Grateful thanks to GCA Board member Matt Hill, and to all of those who helped him pull off such a great event.

In a rural area two hours north of Johannesburg, South Africa, a massive camp-fire is roaring, warming the bodies of 150 South Africans against a cool spring night in late September. The fire lights their faces as they sway back and forth, singing. Most of those gathered range in age from 11 to 17, but there are older men and women scattered among them, mostly in the front, leading the songs or the dances that sometimes accompany the music. There is no other noise in the night, just the sound of these 150 voices raised together, singing the same words over and over again, so that the words become a rhythmic chant.

Aye, Sizanani goes on,
Sizanani goes on,
Sizanani goes-oes-oes on.

By Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne – Amherst College '01
Photos (c) 2009 Marc Altman

Read the Whole Article from Amherst Magazine Winter 2010

 

Reston, Virginia
January 18, 2010

Global Camps Africa is proud to have been selected to receive the 2010 Reston Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 25th Annual Birthday Celebration Award for International Impact.

The award was presented on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, January 18, at a special event held in Reston.  Keynote speaker at the event was Sheila C. Johnson, founder of the entertainment network BET and owner of the Washington Mystics.

 

I recently spent 2 1/2 weeks volunteering at CampSizanani, a camp for children affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa.

The word "sizanani" means "help each other" in Zulu (one of the 11 official languages in South Africa!), and that is what the camp is all about.

I think that is also what the youth of South Africa are all about. Everyone helps each other. Their life situations are overwhelmed with disease, poverty, abuse, death — and yet they don't give up. They realize the situation they are in and also realize that unless they help each other, help most likely won't come.

So, they wake up every morning and put their own needs aside to help their neighbors, their parents, their siblings, and the people of South Africa. The campers were no different. The kids were like one giant family of 150 brothers and sisters. They were constantly sacrificing of themselves to bring comfort to their newfound brothers and sisters, and together, they became a mighty force, willing and able to change South Africa.