Cape Town is an area of South Africa much like any other area in the country, with dramatic landscapes and beaches that bring in fresh waves of tourism each year, although many tourists fail to see the truth behind the town.

One out of every five people in Cape Town is HIV-positive.

Up until about 11 years ago, Cape Town was a victim of apartheid: Separated from the richer, predominantly white sections of South Africa, Cape Town housed an impoverished background for the life-taking virus to flourish.

Penn State professors Edward Smith and Linda Caldwell are hoping to create a change for the better in Cape Town through their program, HealthWise.

Created from about $2.5 million from the National Institute of Drug Abuse, HealthWise is a program designed to help teachers in the Western Cape School District, in the Mitchell's Plain region of the country, develop programs to teach students how to develop positive use of free time.

"Instead of just being a program that says, 'Avoid sexual risk and substances,' the thing we're doing that's different is trying to promote positive use of free time for these kids," Smith said. "The HIV rate in South Africa is so astonishingly high that it's critical they do something to stem HIV, especially for younger people."

The program was developed over the course of three years.

"It was a very long process," Caldwell said. "We started with a pilot program in 2002 because although we specifically developed HealthWise to be delivered in South Africa, it was based on Western curricula and we needed to make sure it was culturally appropriate."

Elias Mpofu, associate professor of education, is from the region where HealthWise is conducting their program and is the program's cultural translator.

"I have an intrinsic grasp of what they expect and perspective of what puts them in risk," he said. "This is a very important program because substance abuse and HIV are very high risks in the population of South Africa."

Mpofu said the need for HIV education was especially great in Cape Town.

"Our observation was that the teachers and students didn't have a documented program applicable across schools," he said. "The absence of scientific interventions to help South Africans cope with these problems of substance abuse and HIV caused this population we are working with to be high risk."

Caldwell said HealthWise is having a positive influence on the people of Mitchell's Plain.

"The teachers just finished their first year on the modified, culturally adapted curriculum and they loved it, as did the [students]," she said. "One of the things they loved is that it doesn't focus solely on negative behaviors, but also promotes positive behavior."

HealthWise has a partnership with two universities in the area of Cape Town to easily facilitate the education of teachers.

"We have a partnership with the University of the Western Cape and the University of Cape Town," Smith said. "There are full-time people working with the communities and schools, training the teachers who educate the children."

Caldwell and Smith travel to Cape Town at least once a year to see how the program is doing.

"Despite the extreme, almost unimaginable poverty, the people are wonderful colleagues and have a great spirit and optimism about the future," she said. "It is an immense challenge doing this work in this post-apartheid era."

Caldwell said the program gives her a sense of accomplishment.

"I feel like I am putting my research to a good, practical use and hopefully making a difference," she said. "There is also great optimism to be working in an environment that is so receptive."