Stephen Lewis, United Nations special envoy for HIV and AIDS in Africa, brought a number of heartbreaking stories of despair and neglect to students at Sinclair Secondary School last week. Although his speech left many in the crowd inspired, a number were brought to tears about his tales of orphaned children and rising maternal mortality rates due to disease.

"Every time I go to Africa, I know I will meet a group of women, they'll all be in their 20s, and the first thing they'll say to me is, 'What's going to happen to my children when I die?'" Mr. Lewis, 68, said.

His tale of children desperately searching for a single Aspirin tablet to ease their mother's pain, or cleaning up an incontinent parent, were particularly heart-rendering. Instead of sugarcoating the realities of HIV and AIDS to students, Mr. Lewis threw the doors wide open on a disease which he labelled Machiavellian and dangerously adept.

"They want love, they want nurture -- they so want the touch of an adult hand," he said of the children orphaned by HIV and AIDS. "They become orphans not as their parents are alive, but while their parents are dying."

The grandmothers of Africa have inadvertently become "unsung heroes," caring for these children long after their parents have died, Mr. Lewis said. The students of Sinclair have also showed their passion by raising $35,000 for the Stephen Lewis Foundation, a charitable organization set up specifically to help fight the disease.

The school's model UN club actually started out with a goal of raising $10,000, but by selling wrist bands and holding a number of charitable events, including a walk/run called Race Against Time, the entire school and community helped more than triple the final tally.

In just a short hour, Sinclair students were introduced to a remarkable man who showed he has an obvious passion for the people of Africa. Not because its his job, but because he truly cares and believes their plight can be reversed. Mr. Lewis exposed both sides of the spectrum -- the charity of those who care and the horrors of everyday life in the continent.

The truth often hurts, but sometimes it is the only way to encourage empowerment and change among the younger generation.

Reporter David Blumenfeld's column appears every other Wednesday. E-mail dblumenfeld@durhamregion.com