Who Is Camp Sizanani?

Camp Sizanani Life Skills (CSLS) is a licensed and registered NPO dedicated to empowering South Africa’s orphaned, vulnerable, and at-risk youth by equipping them with essential life skills and education.

Our free weekend and holiday programs create a safe, nurturing space where children can learn, grow, and build resilience. In a world where traditional education often overlooks critical life skills, we step in to bridge the gap—preparing young people for a future where they can thrive, lead, and break the cycle of poverty.

Our Mission

We strive to transform the lives of Southern Africa’s orphans, vulnerable children, and youth by equipping them with critical skills and education. We aim to empower them to become safe, resilient, and productive adults with a renewed sense of hope for the future.

To achieve this, we focus on four key areas:

History

Camp Sizanani was founded in 2003 by Phil Lilienthal as an outbranch of Global Camps Africa to teach children critical life skills. These include how to defend themselves from a deadly disease and how to defend themselves from addiction, exploitation, and abusive behavior. Since its first camp in 2004, Camp Sizanani has grown to include weekly youth clubs for vulnerable children and youth, three yearly residential camps, and a growing psychosocial team.

Our Programmes

Residential Camps

We host three residential camps for 150 teens annually. Campers spend 8 days learning through our fun and holistic programmes. These include life skills such as self conceptualization, rights and responsibilities, sexual and mental health, and values driven decision making. Additional activities include arts and crafts, theatre, yoga, swimming, sports, and adventure.

Saturday Youth Clubs

Our weekly Saturday Clubs run throughout the year where we teach children from grades 1-12 critical life skills. These include financial and digital literacy, imbokodo and gents corner, entrepreneurial workshops, and general life skills.

Vochellis

We train and equip all our young facilitators (otherwise known as Vochellis) to best serve their communities.

We also provide them with additional opportunities to receive free accredited certification and connect them with US camps to work abroad.

PSYCHO-SOCIAL Support

Our team of social workers provide support to all our beneficiaries through counseling, mediation, school social work, and health and wellness drives.

Our Partners

We have earned the trust of the following donors and partners