Haiti
- Please continue to pray for the children and people of Haiti who have been hit by four powerful storms in a row (Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike) in less than a month. The World Food Program (WFP) in Haiti is struggling to feed those left homeless by the tropical storms and hurricanes. http://www.alertnet.org/
thenews/newsdesk/N08483383.htm - Please pray for those who will suffer because so much of the country’s rice crop was destroyed in the storms. http://www.alertnet.org/
thenews/newsdesk/N1530652.htm - Pray for the children of Gonaives, a northern Haitian city that has been severely affected by these storms. Runoff from deforested mountains caused even more flooding and cut this city off from much of the rest of the country and prevented deliveries of needed supplies like clean water and food. http://www.alertnet.org/
thenews/newsdesk/N08483383.htm - Pray for children who had to relocate from their homes to rooftops or shelters to escape the flooding caused by these storms. UNICEF estimates that 300,000 Haitian children were affected. Please pray for the restaveks, the child laborers of Haiti, who have been particularly hard hit by these hurricanes and tropical storms. And pray for 12-year-old twins, Widna and Widnise, whose mother was too poor to take care of them and placed them with a family in Gonaives two years ago. The girls were abandoned by this family when their home flooded and have had to fend for themselves. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/
09/14/world/americas/14haiti. html?th&emc=th
United States
- Please keep the children and people of the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana in prayer as they deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. Pray for all children and families who have been displaced; for those who have lost homes; for those who are in shelters; and for those coping without water or electricity. More than one million people were evacuated from this area before the storm hit.http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp-dyn/content/story/2008/09/ 14/ST2008091400700.html?sid= ST2008091400700&s_pos=list - Give thanks to God that there wasn’t the catastrophic loss of life initially expected because of Hurricane Ike. At the last minute, the hurricane veered north and spared the Houston-Galveston area from even worse destruction.
- Pray that a loving adoptive home will be found for 2-year-old Irene* and 4-year-old Victoria* who have special medical needs. Pray that the transition from their current foster home to a new adoptive home will be made with ease for these sweet, little girls and the foster family caring for them now. Please pray for their health and wellbeing and that they will grow in the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ.
- Please pray for 8-month-old Grace* and her foster parents during a very stressful time for their family. Grace was placed with this foster family when she was four days old and her foster parents very much want to adopt her. Recently, Grace’s birth grandmother, who has been denied placement several times before because of previous arrests, has tried to get custody of Grace and Caroline*, another granddaughter who is 5 months old.
- Please pray that everyone involved with these cases—social workers, legal personnel, judges, advocates, foster parents, birth relatives—will be guided by what is in the very best interests of these babies.
- Pray for Grace’s birth family—mother, grandmother and siblings—as there is a history of substance abuse, domestic violence, child neglect/abuse, and imprisonment (several of the adult birth siblings have spent time in prison).
*Name changed for confidentiality and/or protection.
