children in Somalia and Southern Sudan have endured for years -- starvation.

Most of the high school's 550 students will give up food for the day to raise money for people hit by famine in the Horn of Africa.

The students' awareness was heightened by Swedish Pentecostal missionary Mr.

Darren Gingras who visited the school three weeks ago and showed graphic slides of people starving to death.

Berkeley teacher Mr. Cliff Green said: "It certainly made an impression on myself and the students, so I thought we would like to capitalise on this.'' Mr. Green, who spent three years in Kenya, said the most relevant way to help seemed to be to fast.

"We're asking the whole school to participate,'' he said. "Some students may not because parents may object. But I believe the majority will.'' Students, who will go without food from 8.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m., also have been encouraged to raise at least $25 through sponsorship.

Mr. Green explained that $25 can feed a family of seven for a month and pay for education and medical treatment in the areas targeted.

"If each of the 550 students raise $25 that's 550 families that we're keeping alive for a month,'' he added.

The money raised will be turned over to the Pastor of the West Pembroke Pentecostal Assembly, the Rev. Harlyn Purdy, who is scheduled to leave Bermuda on July 13 for five weeks in Southern Sudan and Somalia.

Rev. Purdy, who has worked as a missionary before, said: "It is a tremendous thing for young people to begin to look beyond their borders. We have so much.'' Rev. Purdy said that based on talking with Berkeley students at an assembly, the majority had earned or spent $25 in a weekend.

"The vast majority of the people who live in Southern Sudan would not make $25 in a year,'' he said.

The money raised will be taken to the Swedish Pentecostal Mission's headquarters in Nairobi. The mission, which is the primary distribution group in that area, feeds hundreds of thousands of people in feeding stations that can serve up to 5,000 people.

"The money that Berkeley will raise will probably primarily be used for food supplies,'' he said. "But some of it will go for medical supplies.'' The Mission, which also goes into leper colonies, has an extensive immunisation programme that is administered to children once they regain their health.