It takes maturity beyond her years for a young white Bermudian to adjust to life in the southern highlands of Tanzania.

But for the last nine months Erica Fulton has worked in the East African nation as part of a youth development programme, Students Partnership Worldwide, which hosts educational and environmental programmes for rural children primarily promoting AIDS awareness.

After a training session in the city of Iringa with the other volunteers, Ms Fulton, 20, and her Tanzanian partner were sent to a town called Makambako, which is part of the southern highlands.

Ms Fulton said although the population was around 142,000 people, it was mainly a transit station for drivers along one of the country's major roads. As a result, it was a town devoid of stores, mostly comprised of bars with small wooden "Dukas" where you can buy food.

"Half the population are prostitutes because that's the only way they can get money. The employment rates are low, and there's extreme poverty," said Ms Fulton. "It's one of the worst places in East Africa for AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, and tuberculosis."

There were societal difficulties to adjust to. For example, Ms Fulton explained that although everyone in the rural areas speaks Swahili, only primary school was taught in their language - secondary school is taught entirely in English, which can make a strained educational system even less effective.

Ms Fulton added that her major "culture shock" when she first arrived was adjusting to the role of women in society.

She recently returned to Bermuda from her sojourn in Tanzania, and spent a few days at home before heading to Manchester University to begin college. Despite some of the hardships associated with the living conditions, Ms Fulton said she would definitely recommend the programme to others.

"I wasn't just some big white person coming in like a saviour. I lived with my Tanzanian partner and we made all the decisions together," said Ms Fulton. "And I never felt like 'oh my God, what am I doing here' because I was on a main road," she added. "I loved the scenery. It was so beautiful, open and vast."

The SPW programme placed Ms Fulton in the area because of the district's high percentage of HIV-positive people, so that she and her Tanzanian partner could promote AIDS awareness in the community.

"Because of the culture, nobody likes to talk about sex, which is part of the reasons AIDS is such a bad problem there," she said. "No-one talks about the causes or how to protect yourself.

"But there are a lot of misconceptions. Some people think condoms have holes in them, or that condoms come contaminated with HIV from the United States to reduce their population, or that AIDS can be cured by sleeping with a virgin," she added.

Under the programme's guidelines, volunteers teach secondary school students a formal class in addition to sexual health awareness. In Ms Fulton's case, she was the only biology teacher in the entire school of 300 students - and she taught an average class size of 50.

"They're desperate for teachers because there are so few who want to teach in rural areas," she said. "And the teachers are badly, if ever, paid."

Ms Fulton said her students were receptive to the talks she and her partner organised about preventing HIV. One of their major activities she was most proud of hosting was a football/netball league. More than 1,000 people came to the matches, and participants heard talks by doctors and clergymen about AIDS awareness.

Although Ms Fulton said her overall experience was a positive one, living conditions were unarguably difficult.

"I think our accommodations were also a shock for my Tanzanian partner," said Ms Fulton. "We had no electricity and no running water. For me, it was fun because I knew it was only for eight months - it was kind of like camping."

When it was time to shower, they took a bucket to a tap about 300 metres behind the house. Ms Fulton said during the dry season there was dust everywhere, so she had "permanently dirty feet".

"I'm not fluent in Swahili, but I can speak conversational Swahili now," she said and added with a smile: "I think I learned more from them than they did from me."