Connecting to Make a Difference through Community Partnerships
Global Camps Africa’s impact extends far beyond the eight days of residential camp or even the year-round Youth Clubs. Sandile, a current Camp Sizanani program participant, experienced the power of that network effect in a transformative way this year.
It all started with a camp counselor (vochelli) named Bokang Mokoena, who served as a Youth Club Team Leader years ago. Even then, it was clear that Bokang had a passion for connecting with young people...especially those who were struggling to meet their potential. Recognized for his special skills by a US camp director visiting Camp Sizanani, he was hired as summer camp staff at Frost Valley YMCA in the United States, where he shared his talent and further developed his own tools for working effectively with youth. He went on to leverage these experiences and founded Phakamani Young Minds Academy, a youth-led community organization in Johannesburg that provides academic assistance, support, and mentorship to learners throughout their schooling careers. His goal was to help foster the skills and mindset that South Africa needs in its future leaders.
Fast-forward to 2021 and Sandile, who has attended Camp Sizanani and Youth Clubs since 2018. Global Camps Africa’s team identified her as a young woman with extraordinary gifts, but who was struggling to meet her potential because of some challenges in her home life. Sandile lives with her father, two sisters, and her sister’s child in a poor township outside Johannesburg and, although she was receiving support from Global Camps Africa, the stress of living in sustained poverty in an unsafe environment was affecting her academic performance.
The story could have ended there. But it didn’t, because of the connection between Global Camps Africa and its network of camp counselors. We reached out to Bokang for help, and he immediately offered Sandile a scholarship to get the extra academic support she needs through his community organization. Now, Sandile is on track to go to university and change the environment she is living in.
After participating in the Phakamani Young Minds Academy for the past several months, Sandile says,
“It has helped a lot. My schoolwork has improved and I’m expecting great results this term. Phakamani Young Minds Academy trains us to take ourselves seriously...In the next five years, I hope to go to university!”
Ms. Nontsikelelo Tsatsi: Connecting through School Partnerships
Ms. Tsatsi is the Headmistress, or Principal, at Minerva High School in Alexandra Township. The school accommodates the 10th through 12th grade children from the community, which has a rich anti-aparthaid history and vibrant culture but suffers from endemic poverty, violence, unemployment, and failing infrastructure. Ms. Tsatsi says, “Our learners face a lot of challenges. We have students from child-headed households. The rate of sexual abuse and rape, and the number of girls who become pregnant from those incidents, is increasing. The impact of all of this is seen in their results.”
When Global Camps Africa connected with Ms. Tsatsi to ask if she would like to have our young women’s empowerment program offered to the students at her school, she was very excited. “We have limitations,” she said. “Our staff is only trained to implement the academic curriculum, but our learners have other challenges that we cannot address.” The partnership was born, and our Sizanani team is leading three-day weekend day camp sessions for 10th grade girls to empower them to fight gender-based violence, teach them about reproductive health and pregnancy prevention, and plan for their healthy, productive futures. When she introduced the program to the girls in her school, she says, “I could see the excitement of our learners when we told them about the kind of activities they would experience at Camp Sizanani.”
“Looking at the problems that we have here at the school, this program is something that all of my learners should be a part of. Having 130 students per camp, targeting 10th-grade girls, has helped us. We can evaluate the progress of those learners as they continue through the institution,” says Ms. Tsatsi. Understanding the current and emerging needs of the children, and truly connecting with them, are two critical components to the success of our school-based programs. Ms. Tsatsi shared an example with our team in a recent conversation: “We have a case of a learner who has been sexually assaulted, and through Sizanani there has been a breakthrough in that case. The child is now opening up, and the involvement of Camp Sizanani with that family has made things better for that student. We have made progress in that case as a result of Camp Sizanani.”
In 2021, Global Camps Africa developed thriving partnerships with six schools across five deeply disadvantaged areas of the townships around Johannesburg. Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 epidemic, our school-based programs reached more than 1,400 young women and girls with life-skills education and empowerment, psychosocial support, and a lasting connection to caring, supportive adults. After the day camps, the girls are invited to enroll in our follow-on program, Virtual Youth Clubs, where they receive ongoing academic tutoring, health and wellness education, and access to resources that help with food insecurity, healthcare, and other needed social services.
Ms. Tsatsi’s message to us is clear and direct. She says,
“I extend a word of appreciation first. You are doing a good job. I wish we could have more of these camps. I wish we could have these services extended to all learners. The schools you have partnered with are not highly resourced, and they really depend on people like you to make a difference in these children’s lives. As a school, we are the last hope for these learners and we are here to break the cycle of poverty. Our learners can be well capacitated and empowered to deal with the challenges they will face out there after grade twelve.”
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.
