PENDLETON – Recent Pendleton High School graduate Yassie Aflatooni will depart this week to donate one year of service to a home for abandoned children in Honduras.

She visited Hoagar de Ninos Terra Santa for two weeks in December 2004, and has been aware of the home and its service to children since she met its director, Santiago Martinez, when he visited Pendleton with photos and the story about his work. Martinez will visit again at 7 p.m. Thursday in room one at Oxford Suites to share more information about the home and its children.

“Some kids are there because their parents can’t afford to keep them,” Aflatooni said. “The parents either come to visit or the kids go home for holidays.”

With only one adult volunteer for every 10 children younger than 4, Aflatooni said she chose to go to Tierra Santa because “they need more love than one person can provide,” she said. “I love babies.”

One special 4-year-old, Daniel, whose mother grew up in the home at Tierra Santos, would seek Aflatooni out at nap time.

“He would sit on my lap and play with his cars, crashing them until he fell asleep,” she said.

Aflatooni will care for the children and help them learn to write small English words, such as “cat” and “dog.” Although she studied Spanish – the children’s native language – for four years in high school, she said with children that young, “it really doesn’t matter if I understand what they’re saying or not. They just keep on talking.”

The children walk up to people with open arms, she said, even if they don’t know who they are. A high fence and locked gate keep away those who might harm the children.

Another reason she is taking a year to help the children is that her faith, Baha’i, recommends a period of service after high school to prepare oneself for advanced study and to mature and grow spiritually.

Although “it’s sad to leave my friends behind and not go off to college with everyone,” the sincere teen is looking forward to seeing the children again. “If I didn’t think I would be needed, I would have gone somewhere else,” Aflatooni said.

Aflatooni is the daughter of Vafa and Leslie Aflatooni of Pendleton, whose influence has taught her how important being able to help is. Next fall, she plans to study nursing and pre-med at either the University of Arizona or Washington State University.