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Children at Risk

Prayer News

 
Edition 71 September 28th

SCRIPTURAL ENCOURAGEMENTS

‘When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.’

Isaiah 43:2 (NIV)

Orphanos

Most of the children we pray for in our prayers guides are not given the opportunity to become all God intends for them to be.  For whatever cause they might not ever be given opportunities to explore talents and skills they may have.  La Aljaba, an Orphanos partner home in Leticia Colombia, is blessed to give some of the children a chance to use the talents God has given them.  5 of the children from our partner home have been given the opportunity to develop musical skills and play with the local orchestra.  What a blessing for these children to be able to learn to play an instrument and be a part of an orchestra.  We would like to ask for your prayer for an opportunity they have coming up soon.  The orchestra is planning a trip to the capital city, Bogota,  to perform three concerts, share their experiences with others, and attend workshops to play different instruments. 

  • Pray that the home will be able to find financial support to send the children to Bogota.

  • Pray that the children will benefit and grow from this experience.

  • Pray for the safety of the children as they travel away from their home. 

Manila, Philippines

In the wake of tropical storm Ketsana hitting Metropolitan Manila on Saturday 26th Sept we would like to focus prayers around the enormous impact and clean up campaign that will follow this coming week. A whole months rain fell in six hours causing severe flooding. Due to the fact the storm happened on a weekend, response efforts were slow and hard to coordinate as government offices were closed and emergency and relief workers were trapped in their own homes. A mega city with some 15 million inhabitants, 70 people are known to have died and there are an estimated 40,000 people in evacuation centers. Jeff Anderson of Action International, reports that they were inundated with text messages and phone calls telling them about stranded children who had gone to school, homes being washed away, people scurrying to safer ground and a church requesting food because they had become an evacuation center. Some of the children are now being accounted for but they await word from others. Their concern is for their own relief team who have been affected, as this could hamper their responses to requests for relief aid. Fire is also a concern in some areas.

  • Pray for the workforce on the ground, for the churches, ministries and organizations who have the means to help others. Pray that they will not be hampered by their own needs.

  • Pray that as the clean up campaign gets underway that there will be a spirit of kindness and support rather than exploitation and abuse.

  • Pray for the many street children that their lives will somehow be turned for the better through this disaster.

  • Pray that any ‘hidden’ children previously in darkness will become known and find the love and help they need to live life to the fullest.

  • Pray that the Kingdom of heaven would be known to be at hand.

NIGER

80,000 people have also been affected by the unprecedented rainfall in northern Niger’s Agadez region which has also led to severe flooding and devastation. The raging waters destroyed the dyke protecting the town of Agadez and on September 11th the government called for international assistance as entire sectors became flooded.

The Government of Niger, UNICEF and other partners are equipping identified sites with water and sanitation facilities, as well as shelters. 11 sites are currently being used for shelter and water tanks and water systems are being established. Thousands of children under the age of five are particularly at risk of contracting infectious diseases caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. Although the floods have receded, ponds and stagnant water are still ideal breeding spots for mosquito’s with the risk of malaria presenting a significant threat.

  • Pray that in the midst of this devastation there will be opportunity to identify and help malnourished children.

  • Pray that as ‘family kits’ are distributed by UNICEF that the families who receive them are enabled to rise above the circumstances and offer help and hope to others.

  • Pray for the creation of child friendly spaces where children can enjoy recreational activities and receive psycho - social support.

  • Pray that the rains will release a cleansing and healing effect on this, one of the poorest and most underdeveloped countries in the world.

CHILD AMBASSADORS

An area of encouragement as we look around Viva’s networks is the identification and appointment of child ambassadors. Several networks in Latin America are enabling children from projects to become a spokesperson and a voice on behalf of their peers. This is an exiting development and we would ask for prayer as the voice and prayers of the children themselves are being released.

  • Pray for blessing and success upon those networks who are developing the child ambassador model of working, that they would know great wisdom and discernment as they pioneer in this area.

  • Pray that as various projects and networks begin to hear the voice and ideas of the children that there will be an increase in effectiveness for and on behalf of children at risk.

  • Pray that as the generations work together it will bring great glory to God and new strategies which will be released to bring Jesus’ Kingdom on earth.

Thank you for praying!

 

To learn more about our work with children, or to make  a donation to the work of Orphanos, click HERE.     

Children at Risk Prayer News is a partnership initiative of Viva, Faces of Children, and Orphanos. Where individual children are referred to, names are changed to protect their identity.

 

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