University Internship Program: Ntando's Story

South Africa has the highest rate of youth unemployment in the world: between 63% and 75% this year.  We connected with the South African Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority (HWSETA) to build a thriving partnership to help address this crisis.  As a result, Camp Sizanani employed three young people as part of our internship program in 2021.  The program provides students with work experience to satisfy their university requirements while earning a salary.  According to Camp Sizanani’s program director, Neo Nkosi, “Camp Sizanani has seen the interns rise up and take responsibility for their lives and their role within our organization.  We are proud of their contribution and commitment to positively change the lives of young people.”

Camp Sizanani interns created a video to share about their experience, featuring Ntando.

Ntando, an intern at Camp Sizanani in South Africa, says, “Growing up from a poor, disadvantaged family wasn’t easy for me because sometimes my family couldn’t afford some of the stuff that others had.  But I always told myself that I was going to be a teacher one day.”  Ntando is a first-year student at the University of South Africa, and is enthusiastically pursuing that dream from his childhood through his studies and his internship at Camp Sizanani.

Ntando lives in Lawley, part of Soweto, a large township in Johannesburg.  He’s twenty-four years old and lives with his mother, father, younger brother, and son.  Because he grew up in the township setting and still lives there with his family, he truly understands the challenge that children in Global Camps Africa’s programs are facing.  He connects deeply with the children who participate in our camps and clubs and is enriched and inspired by them.

As his internship comes to an end and he reflects on his experience, Ntando says,

“What camp Sizanani offers to vulnerable youth inspires me a lot because it is something that I never experienced as a child in Soweto.  I would proudly love to continue being a part of the Camp Sizanani team as a volunteer even after my internship ends.”

Young Women's Empowerment Camps: Dineo's Story

When Dineo, an eighteen-year-old young woman from an extremely impoverished informal settlement area near Johannesburg, arrived at a Camp Dream Big weekend day camp session, she had her four-month-old baby girl on her back.  Dineo had been forced to drop out of the school where the camp was being held when her daughter was born because there was no one to take care of the child at home.  But when she heard about Camp Dream Big, she decided to make the long walk with her baby in tow and participate in the young women’s empowerment program.

She expected she would be the only girl there with a baby to care for, and she knew it would be difficult, but Dineo was determined to try to find a way to connect with information and resources that could start her journey toward a better life.

What Dineo didn’t expect was the warm welcome she and her daughter would receive at camp.  The Sizanani Camp Dream Big team took turns caring for her baby throughout the days of camp so that Dineo could participate fully, as a peer, in each session.  By the end of the camp weekend, Dineo’s little girl was affectionately nicknamed “Baby Sizanani.”

Our team of social workers followed up with Dineo after camp to find out more about her situation at home.  She lives with her mother, little brother, sister, sister’s children, and her baby in Weilers Farm, an informal settlement where the unemployment rate is estimated at 70% and there are high levels of violent crime.  Combined with the lack of basic infrastructure and economic opportunities, daily life for Dineo was challenging even before she found out she was pregnant and had contracted HIV.  

Now, the Camp Sizanani Dream Big team is connecting with Dineo regularly.  She’s on an HIV-treatment regimen and has learned the importance of adherence to her medicines.  She is also getting help to register for food assistance that will help meet her nutritional needs, as well as “Baby Sizanani”’s.  She’s decided that she wants to be a social worker and, after discussing it with her family, has arranged for her grandmother to take care of her baby so that she can re-enroll in school for the coming academic year.

Months after attending Camp Dream Big, Dineo says,

“I discovered that I am deserving.  Just because I am a mother doesn’t mean I shouldn’t prioritize myself.  I learned that I am capable of seeking employment.  My relationship with my mother improved because now I know what I need to do to take care of myself.  Our communication has gotten better.  She and I have now talked about how I can prevent myself from getting pregnant in the future, and how I can adhere to my HIV-treatment regimen.”

Eyes on Campers

By Guest Blogger Brian Crowder

A week ago, I returned to the U.S. after a week in South Africa. After 9 years of affiliation with GCA, I’d finally had the opportunity to become a practicing Vochelli—a camp counselor—and a minor part of this March’s session of Camp Sizanani in Rustenburg. As a stateside volunteer and donor to GCA, I had seen the photos and heard the stories from camp, but seeing Camp in person was something completely new for me.

The children meet the Vochellis in central Soweto/Alexandra locations to pile into chartered buses for the more than two hours of exodus from dangerous, impoverished slums to the beautiful, park-like setting arranged for them in rural Rustenburg. Upon arrival, the greeting rituals begin and campers begin to learn who these people are that have pledged more than a week of their time and care for them.

Cabins are organized and lunch is served. This is where a truly amazing transformation starts to happen. Generous portion sizes and the option for “seconds” brought smiles. The kids start making eye contact. Their idea of Camp is becoming clearer, and the safe space that we’ve all played a part in designing for them starts to take shape.

I watch the trust between campers and Vochellis grow throughout the week.

Campers who showed up having never been in a pool learn to swim and even dive; Campers engage in emotional, open and cathartic communication about their deepest struggles in Theatre/Dance; Campers learn healthy ways to make decisions about sex in Life Skills sessions, articulating clear stances on how to avoid HIV/AIDS and teen pregnancy.

It’s a well-oiled machine of programmatic learning and relationship building.

By the end of the week, a refrain started to ring out among the campers. “I wish I could stay here forever.” Hearing that made me proud to be there. The kids truly appreciate what is happening for them. They see and feel the changes in themselves. They love the Vochellis.

To anyone interested in funding or supporting Camp Sizanani, please do.

But, also…go. See the faces and meet the people.

Camp Sizanani is empowering South Africa’s most vulnerable children.

Phil’s Notebook: Memories of Harris Wofford

We're mourning the death of one of our longtime supporters and member of our Advisory Council, Senator Harris Wofford, who passed away on January 21st.  

Harris was a relative through my wife, Lynn's, family and a household name who came to be a presence at two important stages of my life.

In my last year of law school I had been accepted into a Peace Corps lawyers program in Ethiopia as well as a legal fellowship program in Malawi. In 1965, who knew anyone who had been to either, much less to both? Harris had worked in both places.

In what I found to be his way of giving advice, he turned the matter over to me and asked what I was looking for. What is a not yet graduated lawyer with no worldly experience looking for when he is investigating programs in Africa? In fact, I have no idea what I said but, but he guided me down a path of examining what little I knew about the places and the programs. 

In retrospect, I don't know what he could have told me that would have given me a better way to formulate a decision.  (I decided on Ethiopia based primarily on being associated with a Kennedy program.)

The second significant interchange was shortly after I had started Camp Sizanani and Global Camps Africa. Harris was planning around-the-world trip with his latest grandchild about to turn 12. He asked if he could make his first stop be Camp Sizanani.  He and his grandson got into Johannesburg that afternoon, hired a driver and made arrangements to meet me at a McDonald's on a major road, from which I would lead them to camp. 

Aside from a slapstick mix-up when there were two McDonald's across the beltway from each other and we kept circling to reach the other, the visit was magical. It was during staff training and Harris spoke to our mainly black South African about his involvement with Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid movements, and the importance of open racial relationships. We had two Peace Corps volunteers, on their break from teaching, on our staff.

The evening ended and Harris, grandson, and driver went back to Johannesburg. The rest of us went to bed and met at breakfast. The PCVs, who had never heard of Harris before the night before, had been impressed enough to Google him that night. Their main report back was a frustrated: "What is there left to do? He has done it all!"

Harris was kind enough to join Global Camps Africa’s Advisory Council, and shared his insights with many of us - including our South African vochellis visiting the US - over the years. His example is one that continues to inspires us all.

Phil's Notebook: Reflections from our Founder & President

October 2018

Vochelli Lerato and her new baby

I had the pleasure of being in Johannesburg for a week before our current camp session (the 82nd!).  I attended a Board of Directors meeting for our sister organization in South Africa, (Camp Sizanani Life Skills) and also led a meeting of our South African counselor staff.

Both meetings went well. The Board is fully engaged and encouraging the office's accreditation efforts. Having an understanding of the detail and volume of compliance issues makes them realize what a great job our Country Director, Mpumi Maesela, and the office staff are doing in addition to their operating the camp and club programs. We hope the process will conclude soon with happy results.  

Like the peasant who complained about the size of his home and getting advice from his counselor to keep move one more animal into the house each day, we hope that the staff will feel as though they are on holiday when they "just" have camp and clubs to administer.

The meeting with our South African counselor staff, whom we call “vochellis,” was designed to explain to them the requirements we face with accreditation and that certain requirements, such as proof of residency, their ID card, etc., were not being imposed by the office but were required by funders we are hoping will sponsor our program. As with any new structure or expectations, we’re all adjusting and trying to understand what is needed…but the vochellis asked good questions and were eager to make the necessary adjustments for the good of Camp Sizanani.

I took advantage of having time between meetings to connect with Vochelli Lerato, who had a baby last year and who hasn't been at camp since. I also visited Vochelli Nathabiseng, an arts and crafts counselor, who has been teaching and pursuing her career in the arts. 

I also made a longer than usual shopping expedition to the African Market at Rosebank Mall as well as to street vendors to replenish the jewelry we sell at the Lake Anne Farmers Market in Reston on Saturdays from May through November. Our volunteers this year, Susan Jones and Lisa Jansons Gray, have done a terrific job at the market this year, and I was happy to follow their shopping list. My only foray into spontaneity at the market were two large animals, one elephant and one rhino, with multi-colored beads over a wire frame. They are car-stopping-and-turning-around spectacular and that's just what I did. I passed the display on the street while driving and went and bargained with them on the spot. We’re planning to put those two special items in the silent auction at our New York event this October 24th. I hope many of you will come and see them in person!

Vochelli Nthabiseng and her family

The African Market at Rosebank