News & Events Canadian Camp Association

The International Camping Fellowship (ICF) Announces Phil Lilienthal & Global Camps Africa as the 2024 Abbott Fenn Druzhba Award Recipient

Date: 2025-01-07 12:00 AM

The International Camping Fellowship (ICF) has named Phil Lilienthal and Global Camps Africa as the recipients of the 2024 Abbott Fenn Druzhba Award, the highest honor in international camping. First presented in 1990, the award recognizes an individual, camp, or organization that has made a significant and sustained contribution to international camping. The award was endowed by Abbott Fenn, a longtime active member of the American Camp Association and former owner/director of the Keewaydin Camps in New England, USA. It recognizes those who spread the benefit of the camp experience to improve world understanding.

Before founding Global Camps Africa in 2004, Phil Lilienthal was a Reston (Virginia) attorney and owner and director of Camp Winnebago in Maine (USA). He joined the Peace Corps after law school, started Ethiopia's first residential summer camps in 1966, and ran it for two summers. He and his wife, Lynn, were Peace Corps volunteers in Ethiopia. Phil later became an Attorney-Advisor in the Peace Corps General Counsel's office, Regional Director for Mindanao in the Philippines, and Deputy Peace Corps Director in Thailand.

Since 2003, Global Camps Africa (GCA) has used camp programs to teach life skills and support healthy, empowered lifestyles. Initially focused on the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the curriculum has since expanded to address broader needs, including financial literacy, entrepreneurship, digital skills, and coding. They run three annual sessions of Camp Sizanani, a residential camp serving youth ages 12 to 18 from impoverished Johannesburg townships. With 140 youth per session, over 400 young people benefit each year. Additionally, their bi-weekly Youth Clubs serve more than 2,000 children aged 5 to 18 across Johannesburg, including those living in children's homes (orphanages). Their programs equip participants with essential life skills to help them face challenges with resilience, fostering social and economic engagement. Campers are encouraged to become active community members, contributing to sustainable development and societal progress in South Africa. Their holistic approach integrates life skills into fun, engaging daily activities such as sports, theater, and arts, alongside sessions on health topics like HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, and self-esteem. To date, GCA has positively impacted the lives of over 70,000 vulnerable children and youth across South Africa, inspiring growth and community empowerment, including 12,000 who have attended Camp Sizanani.

Archived Events

Call for Papers – Research Award of Excellence

Call for Papers – Research Award of Excellence

The annual CCA Research Award of Excellence competition honours, celebrates and promotes research that contributes significantly to the growing body of academic literature relevant to the organized children’s camping movement in Canada.

It encourages graduate students and faculty to examine issues and/or practicalities that relate to child and youth development, enhancement of the quality of life, creating and enabling the experience, and the role of “camp” in its social, political and physical environment yesterday, today and tomorrow.

The submission deadline for the CCA Research Award is on November 30, 2019.

Camp Directors, Owners, and Boards – please forward this notice to your staff and alumni. Anyone, from senior undergraduates to PhD candidates, is welcome and encouraged to submit!
CCA Awards – Nominate Someone Today

CCA Awards – Nominate Someone Today

The CCA is proud to have a national awards recognition program that honours outstanding achievements and contributions by Canadian camp leaders, camps, associations and institutions.

The CCA Awards Program recognizes individuals, camps, agencies or corporations. Written online nominations, from any member of the CCA (including individuals) must be submitted by October 31, 2019, for consideration.

Once approved by the Committee/Board, the awards will be presented by a member of the CCA Board/PCA at a Provincial Camping Association’s annual meeting or other suitable gathering.

Just a reminder, nominations for a camp or an organization must come from an external source.
Newcomers Love Camp!

Newcomers Love Camp!

Recently I had the pleasure of visiting a Syrian family of seven that arrived in Toronto in March 2017 after time spent in Iraq. In two short years, the father has secured full time work in his field as a cook. The mother attends English classes five days a week and her youngest daughter also attends daycare. She has learned to drive and has recently passed her license. The other four children attend school. As well as learning English (which at present they are speaking very well), they are also studying French, thereby adding two new languages to their current fluency in Arabic and Kurdish. I was impressed!

The four older children, ranging in age from five to fourteen, are anxious for winter to end. They are looking ahead excitedly to returning to day camp for a week at the end of August. They are not fond of the cold weather; Nihad told me that he liked camp because “ every day there was the sun.”

For the past two years, the children have experienced camp thanks to the generosity of Seneca: King Day Camp one of the eighty-day and overnight Ontario Accredited Camps that are making the experience available to newcomers to Canada at no cost.

The children eagerly talked about their summer experiences. For Shahid, canoeing was the best thing. She also described the excitement of rock climbing. “Going up was fun; I made it almost to the top, but I didn’t like going down.” Shahid is excited about the possibility of going to an overnight camp for a week with her school class next year.

Appreciative that the counsellor was responsible for putting the worm on the hook, the three older children went fishing. While the others were unsuccessful, Mohamednour mentioned that he caught three fish. However, he was not particularly excited because he doesn’t like to eat fish! Not a problem ̶ they were all released and thrown back into the lake.

Without a doubt, the best thing about camp for Nihad was soccer. He is an ardent Real Madrid fan. When I told him that my grandson’s favourite team was Arsenal, he grinned and replied, “ They are a weak team.”

The first summer, their camp was on a college campus with mostly indoor activities. Last summer they were in an outdoor setting with a lake and woods, which they liked much better. They loved being outdoors swimming in the lake almost every day. The camp has become an important part of a new life in Canada for these children contributing to their feeling of welcome and safety as well as introducing them to exciting new activities.