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Happy campers

Children learn skills for living

By Karen Goldberg Goff (Contact) | Wednesday, December 3, 2008

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The fight against HIV and AIDS in South Africa is being waged through soccer and swimming, arts and crafts, education and fun. That battle started here in the United States, where Phil Lilienthal, a Washington lawyer and longtime Maine summer camp owner, started Global Camps Africa (www.globalcampsafrica.org). Since its founding in 2004, Global Camps has hosted 10-day camp sessions for more than 3,000 children who have been affected by HIV/AIDS.

The camp is held at a boarding school facility in the mountains 50 miles from Johannesburg. In addition to taking part in typical camp activities, the children learn about HIV prevention, self-esteem, nutrition and other topics Mr. Lilienthal and his staff hope will enhance their futures.

For many of the campers ages 10 to 15, the knowledge gained could make a huge difference. There are 11 million AIDS orphans in sub-Saharan Africa, and one-third of today's 15-year-olds will die from the disease. Many children are orphans, have been victims of rape and incest, or will face intense discrimination if they are found to have the virus.

"For children of affluent countries, overnight camp is an added dimension to life," says Mr. Lilienthal, who lives in Reston. "For South African children, camp can mean the difference between life and death. Living in a country with the largest HIV-infected population in the world, many children in South Africa don't expect to reach adulthood. Our camp gives them the tools to cope."

Mr. Lilienthal, 68, says giving the campers knowledge is crucial because topics such as self-respect and the myths about how the disease is spread often are considered taboo in the campers' communities.

"We've designed a course that covers issues that are impediments to youth reaching a healthy adulthood," he says. "Issues such as HIV, sexuality, drugs and crime are not at all addressed in schools and churches."

The life-skills portion of the camp is followed up in the communities with Saturday club meetings in Soweto, where most of the campers live.

Bringing a camp to Africa was a goal for Mr. Lilienthal ever since he and his wife, Lynn, were Peace Corps volunteers in Ethiopia in the 1960s. While there, the Lilienthals started a successful children's camp.

"I associated camp with just fun," Mr. Lilienthal says, "but I realized I could have such an impact on kids. I wanted to do it again."

That idea would have to wait. The Lilienthals moved back to the Washington area in 1967 to start a family, work and run the longtime family business, Camp Winnebago, a boys summer camp in Fayette, Maine.