Global Camps Africa was founded by Reston attorney Phillip Lilienthal, who, for 30 years, was the owner and director of Camp Winnebago in Maine. Mr. Lilienthal, who joined the Peace Corp following law school, had started Ethiopia’s first residential summer camps in 1967 and 1968. He then moved back to the U.S. to start his law practice and raise a family.

In 2003 he once again ventured abroad to see if he might be able to use his camp experience to help HIV/AIDS affected children in South Africa and learned that nothing like it existed. The absence of this type of program, in combination with the high incidence of HIV/AIDS in South Africa, motivated him to see camp as a vehicle to change the attitudes and behaviors of children and youth about HIV/AIDS and their future.

Mr. Lilienthal developed a prototype and organization that would address this critical need and in 2003 Global Camps Africa, Inc. was incorporated in the United States and received its 501(C)3.

In 2004 Global Camps Africa established the first residential camp program in South Africa, Camp Sizanani. Camp Sizanani is located in a mountain area outside of Johannesburg.

The camp program is part education, part HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention and part crucial life skills all wrapped up in a spirit of fun and camaraderie. Six 10-day camps are held each year. Boys' and girls' camps alternate, bringing together 130 children each time and 30-35 counselors. The children range from 10-15 years of age and currently are largely from the Soweto area.