Seventeen-year-old Blake Sonnenfeld is hoping Bermudians' generous nature will enable him to help HIV-positive students he teaches in the country with the world's highest HIV rate.

The Bermudian is one of 490 students attending the United World College in Mbabane, Swaziland.

Part of his International Baccalaureate programme requires he volunteer two hours a week teaching English at a nearby school.

The teenager and a South African student from his school, teach a group of 20 students.

Blake returned home to Bermuda in August for his 'winter holidays'.

As Swaziland is in the southern hemisphere its seasons are opposite to Bermuda's and his school break schedule differs from those in the Northern Hemisphere.

While home he started to collect clothes and school supplies from friends, family and the general community to take back with him. American Airlines offered to waive extra luggage charges so he could take an extra bag brimming with the goods he collected.

He is now looking for donations of old school uniforms, other clothes and school items such as notebooks, pencils and pens that can be shipped to him and distributed to the schoolchildren. Swaziland, in southern Africa, has the highest rate of HIV worldwide with 26.1 percent of the population being infected with the disease according to the CIA World Factbook.

Poverty is also widespread, with 70 percent of the population growing food in order to survive.

"When I first arrived there it was a culture shock," he said. "There is a lot of poverty and it took me a while to get used to the idea that so many people have HIV.

"In Bermuda we rarely come in contact with the telltale signs of the disease, like open sores and lesions. But in Swaziland they are everywhere.

"There are preconceptions and fears here in Bermuda about the disease but I just followed the lead of my classmates who come from other African countries with high HIV rates.

"The level of poverty was also a shock. Here when there is a rip in your school sweater many people say 'off to the school shop' and buy a new one.

"But most of the kids I am teaching have ripped and dirty clothes."

He said one of the hardest things he has had to wrap his head around is that he will most likely walk into the classroom one day and find that one of his students has died due to the disease.

"Many of them have the disease and many of them are AIDS orphans and live with other family members because their parents have died because of the disease.

"I read the paper there everyday and when you go to the funerals page there are lists of people who have died — most of them are in their 20s or 30s but some are younger — and it lists the cause of death as HIV.

"When a kid is off sick for a few weeks we start to wonder... luckily they have all come back."

Having taught two ten-week sessions he says he can see great improvement in the children. But he added that he often feels sorry for the girls in his class.

"Many of them are bright," he said. "Way ahead of their classmates. But they are helping raise their younger siblings.

"Before I came home for the holiday one of the girls was very worried because her grandmother was sick.

"Her parents have already died and she has younger siblings.

"We know that if her grandmother does not get well, or dies, she will have to stop going to school and raise the children. I just hope she is still in school when I get back."

Since he came home several people have asked about his experience and offered to donate items.

From there it has grown. He plans to distribute the goods to his students, the Adult Literacy Centre as well as a slum near his school. To find out how to donate call 296-1591.

Blake attended Saltus Grammar School before winning a scholarship to UWC.

He has also represented Bermuda several times internationally in the World Debate Championship and as the Youth Tourism Minister.

He plans to attend university in the US once he has completed the two-year programme in Swaziland.