Phil Lilienthal

Background

About Phil Lilienthal

In South African society, where the culture doesn't encourage open discussions about such matters as AIDS or sexuality, either in public or in the family, we have taken the approach that it is helpful to bring children and youth into an 8-day residential camp setting. For the first time for most of the children, they are able to get their questions answered and myths dispelled concerning sexuality and HIV/AIDS. Our first camp session was in January 2004. Since then, we have had 49!camp sessions for children, mostly from Soweto, through December 2013. We have conducted the camps like summer camps in the US - sports, swimming, theatre, arts and crafts, dancing, and nature - but with three big differences:* each child has an hour of Life Skills class each day;* the children can only attend a single camp session; and * we provide biweekly follow up programs in the form of Saturday Kids Clubs. Cost: The camp program and the after-camp Kids Clubs cost $500 per child, but the campers pay nothing. We have worked with groups in Uganda and Lesotho, as well as in Pietermaritzburg, Limpopo Province, and Cape Town to train their staffs in building the capacity to grow and improve. Our local South African staff has grown so strong that we are working this year (2013) with 4 other organizations to train their staffs to hold camps without us. We have received grants from MAC AIDS Fund, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Red Ribbon Foundation, and Gilead Sciences, Inc, as well as gifts from some individuals. We have had media coverage in the Johannesburg Star, the Christian Science Monitor, the Washington Times, BBC-TV and radio, and the Boston Globe. Phil was honored in 2013 with the Sargent Shriver Dstinguished Humanitarian Award by the National Peace Corps Association. GCA was awarded two USAID contracts in 2013: one was to train 190 South Africans in the power and camp; the other was to establish camps for children from each of the 9 provinces. Specialties: A lifetime of experience in camps. My father was director of Camp Winnebago, a boys camp in Maine, where I grew up, then owned and directed it. My older son, Andy, now owns and directs it.