Afghanistan
- Please keep in prayer Halima and Rafi, two 17-year-olds from different Afghan ethnicities who met and fell in love while working in an ice cream factory, then rebelled against the dominant Afghan tradition of arranged marriages and close family scrutiny by trying to elope. http://tinyurl.com/44hnepe
- Pray for the safety of these teenagers who have been threatened with death by hanging or stoning for riding together in a car when they tried to elope to get married. Please pray for healing for Rafi, who was beaten badly by the mob that formed when the couple was dragged from the car. And pray that Halima will have a safe place to go when she is released from the juvenile facility where they both are being held. Halima’s male relatives have promised to kill her for shaming their family.
Somalia
- Please pray for the 1.8 million people of Somalia who face malnutrition, hunger, and related problems because of extreme drought, escalating food prices, and civil war. Malnutrition rates in Somalia are the highest in the world now. http://tinyurl.com/3lsjsnv; http://tinyurl.com/3f6t8ma
- Continue to pray for the thousands of people, mostly children, dying because of famine in southern Somali regions controlled by al-Shabaab militants (an Islamist militia linked to al-Qaeda). More than one half of all children in some parts of the south are severely malnourished. Please pray for the 500,000 children on the brink of starvation. http://tinyurl.com/3qgz9gd; http://tinyurl.com/3cmvrzk
- Pray that humanitarian organizations will be allowed entry and safe passage to regions controlled by the al-Shabaab militia. Please pray help will reach famine-affected areas quickly. Pray that God will provide the resources needed for children and their families to survive this devastating drought—that they will receive food, clean water, shelter, and health care soon.
- Give thanks to God for new initiatives that are being developed to prevent hunger. Pray for those are working to find and implement innovative solutions to fight famine through the Gates Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative. http://tinyurl.com/3hr7mtk
Sri Lanka
- Pray for the 630 children still missing more than two years after the end of Sri Lanka’s war between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Pray that workers with the recently established Family Tracing Unit will be able to locate these missing children, many of whom were recruited to fight during the last phase of the war. Give God thanks that more than 600 children have been reunited with their parents through the database set up by the Family Tracing Unit. http://tinyurl.com/45y459y
Syria
- Please pray for Iraqi refugee children and their families still living in Syria despite the violence and unrest there. During the Iraqi war, more than 300,000 Iraqi refugees fled to Syria to escape the fighting. Few are returning home because there is still continued violence, sporadic electricity, and corruption in the public sector. http://tinyurl.com/3uvdb8t
United States
- Please keep in prayer a young family in a very difficult situation. Pray for parents Louise* and Brad* and the three siblings, Patrick*, Megan*, and Christopher*, they fostered and then later adopted.
- Pray for God’s healing mercies for Megan, who was molested by one of Brad’s nephews during a summer visit. Give thanks for Megan’s resilience and courage in telling Louise about the incident.
- Pray for healing for the teenage nephew who hurt Megan—he’s been in treatment for two and a half years, but has reoffended three other times and now will have to register as a level 3 sex offender for life.
- Please pray for reconciliation between Brad and his parents as this situation has caused a huge rift in the family.
*Name changed for protection and/or confidentiality.
Faces of Children
- Please continue to pray that more churches and individuals will join with the ministry of Faces of Children in spreading awareness about children in crisis and inviting more people to pray for children at risk.
