PHOTO GALLERY: Camp Tuli Bonse, Lusaka, Zambia

Photos from the weeklong camp show joy, education, and empowerment, as young people living with type 1 diabetes or sickle cell disease shared experiences, learned about managing their health and, above all, discovered they were not alone.

Medical team members and camp mentors lead young people living with type 1 diabetes in a dance designed to show the best places on the body to inject insulin, during an educational session at Camp Tuli Bonse in Lusaka, Zambia, in August 2025. (All photos by DOD Media Hub)

The NCDI Poverty Network, the Sonia Nabeta Foundation, and the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ) partnered in August 2025 to host Camp Tuli Bonse, the first disease-integrated camp for children and adolescents receiving care at PEN-Plus clinics in Zambia.

Camp Tuli Bonse—which translates in Nyanja to “we are together”—was born from the idea that integrated care and support could extend beyond clinical settings, with benefits that transcend those of physical health. The weeklong camp brought together nearly 60 young people living with either type 1 diabetes or sickle cell disease, for five days of health education, empowerment, and peer support.