HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 354 Offered February 21, 2006 Commending Lynn and Philip Lilienthal and WorldCamps, Inc. ---------- Patrons-- Plum; Senator: Howell ----------

WHEREAS, Lynn and Philip Lilienthal of Reston and their nonprofit organization WorldCamps, Inc., are recognized for extraordinary humanitarian work in South Africa helping children affected by HIV/AIDS; and

WHEREAS, WorldCamps, Inc., works with overseas partners to help children affected by HIV/AIDS in developing countries; and

WHEREAS, the chief executive officer of WorldCamps, Inc., is Philip Lilienthal, who has been involved in camping and summer camps for children all his life; and

WHEREAS, in the 1960s, Philip Lilienthal joined the Peace Corps as a volunteer in Ethiopia, where he started Ethiopia’s first permanent residential summer camp program; and

WHEREAS, from 1974 to 2003, Philip Lilienthal's experience and expertise increased as the owner of Camp Winnebago, a boys' camp in Maine founded in 1919; and

WHEREAS, in May 2003, Philip Lilienthal visited South Africa, Botswana, and Kenya in search of partner organizations with which to share his and his wife Lynn's vision and discovered the Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, South Africa; and together with HIV South Africa, the psychosocial arm of the Perinatal HIV Research Unit, Camp Sizanani for children was established in January 2004; and

WHEREAS, in January 2004, the first camp was held in Soweto, South Africa, for ten days during the school holiday with 100 boys attending; and 11 subsequent camps were held, alternately for boys and girls, at every opportunity during school holidays of 10 days; and

WHEREAS, the camps are very much like summer camps in America with sports, swimming, theatre, arts and crafts, dancing, and nature exploration with three significant differences: each child has an hour of Life Skills class each day, the children only attend a single camp session, and biweekly follow-up programs are provided in the form of Kids Clubs; and

WHEREAS, Life Skills classes are taught in small groups of 14 children by two or more instructors who are trained in issues of adolescence, self-esteem, sexuality, HIV/AIDS, physical and psychological abuse, gender bias, nutrition, and numerous associated topics; and 

WHEREAS, by the end of WorldCamps' first full year, it had served a total of 797 HIV/AIDS affected children with a budget of under $350,000; and since 2004, over 1,500 children have been through the program; and

WHEREAS, a key feature of WorldCamps, Inc., is that new camps will be started by volunteers and former campers, who have become involved and trained through previous camp experience and feel compelled to help children elsewhere in South Africa; and

WHEREAS, Lynn and Philip Lilienthal have been residents of Reston since 1967 and are very active in and supportive of the Northern Virginia community; Lynn holds a master's degree in social work and is deeply involved in civic affairs and Philip practices law with the firm of Larson, Lilienthal and Morris; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend Lynn and Philip Lilienthal and WorldCamps, Inc., for extraordinary humanitarian work in South Africa; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Lynn and Philip Lilienthal and WorldCamps, Inc., for their dedication to the countless children affected by HIV/AIDS.