High Life : A WEEKLY FORUM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS : Poor Have Much to Give Teens : Charity: Youths doing work in Honduras say their generous hosts ‘think they have everything.’

Some Orange County teen-agers experienced a different way of life and learned a lesson in values when they spent a week this summer working at Rancho el Paraiso in San Esteban Olancho, Honduras.

“I saw a big difference between kids in the states and kids in Honduras,” said Camie Velin, who will be a junior at Orange High School this fall. “The kids in Honduras have nothing, yet they think they have everything. It shows in how they play and how they accepted us even though we’re from a different place.”

Velin, along with fellow teens from Northside Church of Christ in Santa Ana and Federal Way Church of Christ in Washington state, recently took part in the Honduras Adventure. This youth service project, sponsored by the nonprofit Honduras Outreach Inc., takes place each summer on a 1,600-acre ranch in Central America.

The project is designed to help Honduran families make a transition to living healthier lives, both physically and spiritually. This goal is met through the work of the student volunteers, who teach classes on health and hygiene, build bridges, cement floors of homes in the villages surrounding the ranch, help to install water lines and participate in community Bible studies.

Audie Rubin, who graduated from University High in Irvine in June, was impressed by his hosts and their ability to find happiness in the midst of poverty.

“Back home we need all these things to be happy, but down here it seems the people need very little to be happy,” he said. “It seems that friends and family satisfy them.”

Traveling to local schools to teach health and hygiene and to carry out various work projects gave the two youth groups an opportunity to experience an outpouring of love, gratitude and affection from the Honduran children.

“I loved the kids because they’re so open to you, so affectionate,” said Corrie Pauw, who attends prep school in Tacoma, Wash. “They all wanted to hold your hand, give you hugs, and one girl gave me a kiss.

“It makes me feel good to know that (the Hondurans) appreciate every little thing you do.”

Scott Christen, who attends high school in Puyallup, Wash., said he loved playing with the children after their lessons. Christen would simply blow up a balloon and immediately find himself being chased by all the kids.

“They just wanted something from another country and were so open and accepting,” Christen said.

The youth volunteers were also impressed by how eager the Honduran children were to help with the work projects.

“On the first day we worked on a latrine,” Rubin said. “Six or seven little children were carrying rocks just as big as the ones I was carrying over to the latrine to fill up the bottom.”

Added Velin: “At the work sites kids were always around just watching us and trying to talk to us. Many times they’d try to help, and they would really work hard.”

At one particular work site, four girls were hoeing weeds behind a community school to plant a garden. A little boy named Antonio wanted to help, so he grabbed the hoe after Velin had set it down so she could rest.

“The hoe was bigger than he was, yet he worked for 20 minutes straight,” Velin said. “Even though it was totally hot out, he had a smile on his face and was laughing the whole time he worked.”

After watching sweat start to drip down Antonio’s face, Velin and the other girls made him put down the hoe.

“I took him to the shade, poured water on him, wiped his face off, gave him something to drink and some gum as a reward to show I appreciated his hard work,” Velin said. “He was really embarrassed because I think his friends were teasing him, so he left.

“He came back about a half an hour later and gave me mangoes and flowers. Then he started working again.”

Honduras Outreach Inc., which has worked in the Central American country for the past 10 years, plans to continue its efforts. For further information, call its office in Decatur, Ga., at (404) 378-0919.