BY ROD HANSEN

While creating a project for a school fair recently, Villa Augustina eighth-grader Rita Pratte burned herself with hot glue.

This accident may have introduced trauma into the lives of many adolescents, but Pratte saw the event through a wider context.

“There are children starving in the world. It almost made me guilty to worry about burning my hand,” said Pratte, 13, of Goffstown.

Many students at the Villa Augustina Junior High gained similar perspectives by participating in the school’s 30-hour famine on Feb. 22 and 23.

That event, which took place for the fifth straight year that Thursday and Friday, carries the dual purpose of raising money to combat world hunger and informing students that poverty poses a major threat to children across the globe.

“I tell (the students) that 29,000 people die of hunger-related causes every day, and that’s something they can understand,” said Jyl Dittbenner, who teaches math at the Catholic junior high school located at 208 S. Mast St. 

Dittbenner also served as famine coordinator for the event. The famine began at 7 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 22, continued with a concert, a movie and a slumber party at the school that night, and concluded with an Italian feast at 1 p.m. the following afternoon.

Students were also given names and pictures of children to pray for, and placed those pictures in prayer boxes around a scale-size drawing of the Earth in the school’s chapel.

A total of 55 students from Villa Augustina’s Junior High participated in the famine this year. The money they raised through parent and community sponsorships goes to support World Vision, an international relief organization that organizes the 30-hour famine worldwide.

As a separate part of the effort, students and community members donated math tools such as protractors, calculators and pencil sharpeners to a mission in Haiti, Dittbenner said.

While the 30-hour famine was only open to Villa Augustina students in the school’s sixth through eighth grades, children in pre-kindergarten through fifth grades were also encouraged to donate math tools and skip a snack in recognition of the famine, Dittbenner said.

“The idea of the famine is for (students) to be in communion with people who are less fortunate, and we recognize that fasting is a form of prayer,” said Dittbenner, who added that students who grew too hungry during the 30-hour water and juice fast were permitted to have rice if necessary.

Many of the activities during the famine were also geared to raise awareness on the issue of global poverty. During one game of charades called “I Never,” students acted out that a child in Uganda may have never experienced Western realities like holding a cell phone, seeing a skyscraper or eating microwave popcorn.

“These kids recognize there are others in the world not nearly as fortunate as they are, and they’re learning more through the famine,” said Sheila Dalrymple, who teaches science and religion at Villa Augustina.

“They’re doing excellent, and they don’t realize they’re almost halfway through the famine,” Dalrymple said as the  sun set on the event’s first day. The students had just participated in an energetic game of charades, and were still excited by the slumber-party atmosphere.

“I think it’s easy to take all we have for granted,” said Alex Martin, 13, an eighth-grade student who wore a Teddy Bruschi Patriots jersey in keeping with the slumber party’s relaxed atmosphere.

Though the famine lasted a relatively short time, some adults said the experience could provide them with lifelong lessons.

“This is a beautiful youth experience,” said Villa Augustina Principal Jack Daniels. “It’s a
great opportunity for students to learn about how they can help other people in the world, and it really speaks to the dedication of teachers, students and the community.”