September 2015
Please join us for a night out to support Global Camps Africa at Avenue Nightclub in New York City.
The night promises to be exciting with open bar, live DJ, a silent auction, camp-themed activities, plus continued access to Avenue following the conclusion of the event. Bid on sports, travel, luxury goods, and unique experiences during the silent auction. A catalog of items will be shared on GCA's website and via email to all attendees two weeks prior to the event.
Thanks to your generosity, more children will have an opportunity to become safe and productive adults who have hope for the future. We hope to see you there!
For more details or to purchase tickets today, click here.
Sizanani Takoma Teen Leadership Camp A Success!
A special thanks to Jen Wofford, avid supporter of Global Camps Africa. Without her efforts, hosting the Sizanani Takoma Teen Leadership Camp (link to Takoma Park news) would not have been possible. This year’s special session of Camp Sizanani was hosted in Takoma Park, Maryland, and was our first ever week-long camp in the US, run by South African Vochellis. GCA partnered with the M.A.N.U.P., a local Takoma Park leadership organization, to provide a week-long day camp to a diverse group of youth. You can watch a video closing the event here. And see more photos and videos on Takoma Park TV's Facebook page.
Brandon Johns, Executive Director of M.A.N.U.P. led a conversation on the first day with campers about the true definition of leadership. He asked the campers to think about times they were leaders, knowingly or unknowingly, over the last year and discuss those times with their peers. Mr. Johns challenged them to remember the times that they felt uncomfortable or out of place in those situations and reminded them that growth as leaders can only come from expanding your personal comfort zone. He concluded the session by challenging the campers to put themselves outside of their comfort zones in the future, and to seize the opportunity to grow as leaders.
The week continued with classic camp activities ranging from Life Skills,
Yoga, Theater, and Sports and Adventure. Vochellis Kay, Sifiso, and Thembi worked with M.A.N.U.P. and GCA staff to continue challenging the campers to think about how they could be better leaders through self-improvement and connecting with the community. Program Associate and Office Manager, Kim Posthumus handled the complicated logistics of getting everything and everyone together.
The camp concluded with a pot luck dinner, hosted by the Takoma Park community. It was attended by campers, their families, community partners and GCA staff.
GCA to add Girls-Only Empowerment Session
Congratulations to Camp Sizanani Life Skills (our South African sister organization) for receiving the U.S. Ambassador’s HIV and AIDS Community Grant again in 2015! This marks the second consecutive year they have received this grant. The Ambassador’s Community Grant Fund supports activities affecting vulnerable children and adolescents, with an emphasis on girls and young women, their sexual partners, and their families in order to achieve an AIDS-free generation.
GCA’s new add-on program is designed for adolescent girls between the ages of 15-24. During alternating weeks of Youth Clubs, a rotating group of female leaders will lead a girls-only empowerment session. To begin the program, female volunteers and leaders from Youth Clubs will be given the opportunity to go to an exclusive gender awareness training to prepare them for our alternate clubs. This training will provide them with a foundation to share the lessons they learned during Youth Clubs and Camp Sizanani in conjunction with lessons learned at the training.
This new program will help develop young female leaders to act as role models and will provide a safe place for the girls to be open in a setting where they feel comfortable to share and grow. Beyond adolescent-friendly sexual reproductive health lessons, a curriculum will be designed to help ensure participants are actively learning about gender norms and HIV treatment, support, and care.
Report from the field - Sizanani Family Fun Day, New York City
7,976.
That's how many miles separate Johannesburg, South Africa and New York City. On Saturday, August 29th Global Camps Africa partnered with People's Theater Project to make that distance feel just a little bit smaller through our New York City Sizanani Family Fun Day. Vochellis Lunga, Lwazi and Manu led over 35 children between the ages of 6 and 15 in theater, yoga and team building activities that resulted in participants learning about confidence, teamwork and communication.
At GCA we’ve always wondered if the energy and training of our vochellis from Camp Sizanani can bring the same inspirational lessons to the US. If the answers to vochelli Lunga’s debrief session of the day’s activities were an indicator it was a clear “yes!” Responses included “I learned about what confidence means,” “I learned not to be afraid of what other people think,” “I learned that it’s fun to work as a team,” and like all Camp Sizanani activities, “I REALLY enjoyed it!”
Thank you to everyone who made this event a success, especially Mino Lora.
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