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Teens fight
famine by
tasting hunger
Local teen-agers fast to
By Mary Adamski
raise awareness -- and money --
for a worldwide problem
Star-BulletinA MAKIKI ALERT: If you're approached by a teen-ager who claims to be really hungry and tries to solicit money for food, believe it. But there's no need to cry for the youth.
Fifty young people from Christ United Methodist Church were to begin a 30-hour fast at noon today with the goal of gaining insight into the hunger suffered by millions around the world.
The youths also hope to raise $10,000 to send to people who don't have the choice of breaking their fast. They planned to spread out in a radius around the Keeaumoku Street church in a "Dash for Cash," seeking pledges for contributions to World Vision anti-poverty programs.
"What we go through in those 30 hours, it's for those children in Africa and North Korea," said Yoon Choi, a Kapiolani Community College student. "We've seen the videos ... by fasting, we can relate tremendously to those children who are famished all the time. People are suffering and it's real."
The participants, ranging from junior high school students to young adults in college, will gather after school to endure hunger together in a sleepover at the church. Juice and water are the only nourishment planned until a potluck finale. An agenda packed with activities will help keep everyone's mind off food.
World Vision volunteer Dirk Maurins said the "30-Hour Famine" is an annual consciousness- and fund-raising method of the international Christian relief organization. Some 600,000 young people in the United States participated last year, raising more than $8 million.
Maurins, who recently returned from observing World Vision operations in Africa, will be a speaker during the fast. Contributions can be made until March 15, he said.
'I want us to be aware of the social responsibility
we have as Christians. What I want is for the
congregation to be globally minded.'The Rev. Woong Min Kim
SENIOR PASTOR OF CHRIST UNITED
METHODIST CHURCHFor fund-raising purposes, the church's youth group organized into competing teams, whose prior pledges already totaled more than $5,000. They bring humor and high spirits to their serious purpose: Posters with thermometers chart the competition between "Peru Crew," "North Korea Sistahs," "Kenya Feed Me" and "Tanzania Crusaders."
The youths invested $40 to bake Valentine cookies and passed them out after Feb. 13 services. The donations left in their baskets amounted to $600.
"The only time I've gone without food is when I was sick," said Emmanuel Robbins, a Roosevelt High School senior. "I think we'll kind of get an understanding of how it is -- but not to that power of real starving."
Robbins, who met with other youth group leaders Wednesday, said sleepovers are "always fun" and anticipated participants will "have a blast even without food."
At the same time, they all expect the fast will lead to something more than a feeling of physical emptiness.
"When you're at your weakest, you can see how God can work," Robbins said. "I suppose when you fast, you can totally focus when you're praying."
Joseph Park, a University of Hawaii student, thought the fast would "help me recognize there's a problem in other countries and realize how lucky I am."
"I want it to be a spiritual thing, not just a short experience," he said. "Fasting is something Christians normally do. It's a good motivation to start."Added Choi: "It's a time for us to bond, to relate to one another. Our church can use that, because sometimes you don't spend enough time with people to really bond with then."
The Rev. Gordon Marchant said his hopes for the event go beyond wanting the youngsters "to understand, if only fractionally, what 50 percent of the world is like on any given day.
"I want us to be aware of the social responsibility we have as Christians," Marchant said. "What I want is for the congregation to be globally minded."
That, he said, is a goal shared by the Rev. Woong Min Kim, senior pastor of the 1,000-member and largely Korean congregation, who recently visited Bangladesh.
"I think it's great for young people to be in the church and have a feeling for something like this," said Steve Chan, whose two daughters are participating in the fast. "It makes me want to do more than I've been doing."
The proud father found his co-workers at Hawaii Newspaper Agency also were impressed, contributing $500 to the cause.
As the fast enters the evening hours today, Park will pick up his guitar and lead participants in a "Worship Karaoke."
He also led the singing at a Bible-study and planning meeting on Wednesday, strumming as they sang words that could summarize their aspirations: "Lord, let your words be the food that I eat."
