For lunch Friday, Siu Koli, an eighth-grader at Waipahu Intermediate, had a few pieces of oranges and some fish with rice at her school cafeteria.

Luckily, it was tasty. It has to tide her over until 6:30 Saturday night.

Siu is one of about 15 to 20 youths from middle and high school taking part in a the World Vision Project fast. She's allowing herself just liquids so she can truly comprehend what it means to be hungry.

"We're just doing it so we can share the experience with the kids who have experienced not having food for more than 30 hours. The Third World kids are hungry for more than 30 days," she said.

First United Methodist Church of Honolulu's youth group effort was spearheaded by the Rev. Amy Wake. Other church and school groups have held their own fundraising fasts in the past, including Olivet Baptist.

After lunch Friday, First United Methodist youths spent the day at school, then headed to the church for games and devotions. They planned to spend the night there, where they were going to make sandwiches to give away.

Saturday, they will be serving those sandwiches to the homeless and hungry in Wai'anae.

"Fasting for 30 hours is just part of the experience," said Wake, who also took part in the project with a youth group at her former church in Colorado.

"The real transformation comes when they realize that millions of children around the world and right here in Hawai'i are hungry like this all the time."

Their hope is to raise enough money to feed three children for a year, and they're about $1,000 into that goal.

The group really bonds when they begin to suffer together, Wake said.

"They start to get really tired Saturday afternoon, several people fall asleep," she said. "It's hard Friday, too. That's when everybody's used to eating."

There will be games to keep their minds off their growling stomachs, as well as worship. After all, Wake said, fasting is "a spiritual thing."

"It combines fasting and learning compassion for people who are hungry like this all the time. It's fasting to be connecting with God," she said.

"We'll end the fast with communion. From my experience, you never have communion like after you've been fasting for 30 hours."