Hungry to Help a Global Cause, Teens Join 30-Hour Fast

Simi Valley seventh-grader Josh Babko knew ahead of time which hour of his 30-hour fast would be the hardest: the fifth.

“I did this last year, “ Josh said, “and the time I craved food the most was at five o’clock on the first day.”

Josh, who admits that he usually eats “a lot--a lot--of food,” explained that his last meal--until Saturday night Communion 30 hours later--would be noon lunch at Valley View Junior High School’s cafeteria.

The 13-year-old isn’t crash dieting, nor is he fasting alone. He is one of nearly four dozen teenagers in the youth program at Simi Valley Presbyterian Church who volunteered to participate in World Vision’s annual 30-Hour Famine. The teenagers are joining thousands of others across the United States and Canada in the fast, whose purpose is to help young people learn about global hunger, according to the church’s youth minster, the Rev. Jonathan Lusche.

The purpose is twofold: the teens ask relatives and neighbors to pledge, say, a dollar per hour to benefit international Christian relief agencies. And, in Josh’s words, “When I get hungry, it makes me think about, like, kids in India that are hungry.”

Josh’s mother, Adina Babko, agrees with her son.

“It’s a good experience for him,” she said. “It’s helping him become a caring adult. It’s an accomplishment, especially for Josh, who otherwise eats all the time.”

Adina Babko said she will make sure that Josh is treated to a nice dinner Saturday night. “But it’s also a very religious, symbolic thing, that the kids take Communion as their first meal after fasting, at the church. That’s special to us--the families all go to Communion.”

Josh’s 11-year-old sister, Babko said, “can’t wait until she’s old enough to get in the youth group and do the fast also.”

In fact, the fast has a reputation at Royal High School for being “a pretty cool thing to do,” said ninth-grader Nichole Holsclaw.

“Some of my friends at school hear what I’m doing and say they couldn’t go without food for 20 minutes,” Nichole said.

Nichole, who has fasted with the youth group before, said it’s an uplifting time for her. “Plus it’s really fun.”

Kids in Simi Valley, Nichole said, take things for granted. “We just go home and open the fridge. I never worry where my next meal is coming from.”

This way, Nichole said, she experiences what some teenagers in other countries go through every day. She thinks about what it would be like waking up in the morning and “realizing you can’t have breakfast . . . and people in other countries go through this all the time.”

Nichole feels empowered by the fasts. “A lot of people think, ‘What can I do? I’m just 15.’ But other people can get food with the money we raise.” Nichole has raised $110 so far, and that’s not counting her parents’ pledge.

The esprit de corps at the Presbyterian Church youth group comes in large part from Lusche.

“The kids just call him Jonathan,” Nichole said. “Because of him, it’s an uplifting time for us.”

Josh Babko agrees that the youth minister is a “pretty great pastor. He shows us educational videos on the famine--gives us a bunch of facts. Then we make up our minds if we want to do it.”

The youngsters are chaperoned and kept busy with activities such as bowling and swimming throughout the fasting period.

“In fact,” said 14-year-old Bethany Pearson, who attends Royal High, “my lowest moment last year was walking into the movie theater and smelling the popcorn.”

Not that the youngsters go completely without sustenance. They are given a pint of juice every two hours, plus all the water they can gulp down.

Bethany’s sister, Rebecca, who goes to Santa Susana High School, takes part in the fast with her.

This is the first year the youngsters have planned a second challenge during their 30-hour food abstention. Everyone was told to bring sleeping bags to the church Friday night, “and after we sing and have some games, we’ll make cardboard forts outside the church and sleep in them,” Josh said.

The point of the cardboard boxes is to experience in a small way what sleeping in the cold or sleeping outside feels like.

“It all makes me think how much I take for granted,” Bethany said. “And I take for granted almost everything. But when my friends at school say, ‘Wow, I could never do that for 30 hours,’ I say, ‘Well, a lot of kids have to.’ So I think my friends think about it. I think it has an impact.”