Prayer Updates for Children at Risk for the Week of November 28, 2011

Prayer Concerns for the week of 11/28/2011

Cambodia

• Please keep the children and families of Cambodia in prayer as they deal with severe flooding that has affected three-fourths of their country. An estimated 1.6 million people have been impacted by this flooding. Pray for families who have lost crops and livestock—more than 70 percent of the Cambodian population depends on them to make a living. http://tinyurl.com/7o9rvff
• Pray for children who have become sick with diarrhea, skin diseases, or upper respiratory illnesses because of the long-standing floodwaters and/or congested evacuation centers. Pray they will receive the medical care and humanitarian assistance needed to survive this disaster. http://tinyurl.com/bmptr2c

Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia

• Please pray for the thousands of displaced Somali children and families affected by heavy rains and flooding in parts of Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia earlier this month. Pray for those who have lost their homes in the IDP (internally displaced persons) camps because of flooding. Pray for children who have become ill with diarrhea because of damaged latrines leaking into floodwaters.
• Give thanks to God for the work of the staff and volunteers with the office of the UNHCR (United Nations agency for refugees http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home) in providing assistance to the worst-affected camps. Pray for the resources needed to reach every child affected by this flooding.
• Thanks be to God for the rain in this region. Continue to pray for an end to the drought, famine, and insecurity in the area. Pray people may return to their farms and work in safety.  http://tinyurl.com/7t4uyyo

United States

• Give praise to God for providing much needed resources for the food pantry at Bdecan (pronounced Bah-DAY Chan) Presbyterian Church located on the Spirit Lake Reservation. http://tinyurl.com/29f8e44  (Bdecan is the only Indian Presbyterian church in the state of North Dakota.) Westminster Presbyterian Church in Alexandria, Virginia has recently begun supporting the food pantry at Bdecan. Thanks be to God that more than 900 pounds of food was given to families on the reservation as a result of the Virginia church’s first donation.
  • Please continue to keep the children, youth, and people of the Spirit Lake Reservation in prayer. Over seventy percent of the population on the reservation is under 25 and there is a high incidence of suicides, as well as drug and alcohol abuse, and children giving birth to children. http://www.spiritlakenation.com/
  • Pray for the boys and young men who were victims of sexual abuse allegedly by a former assistant football coach at a prominent university in Pennsylvania. Pray God will surround each of these boys and young men with a community of support and love. Pray for their healing and restoration. Pray that God’s justice will prevail in this high profile case.  http://tinyurl.com/c8cvwwy    http://tinyurl.com/csw6a44
    • Please keep the alleged perpetrator in prayer. He is accused of using the at-risk children’s charity he founded as an easy access to vulnerable boys. http://tinyurl.com/bwl9aol
    • Pray for each university employee, coach, or official who knew what was happening to these boys for more than a decade and did very little to stop it. http://tinyurl.com/886mxd7
    • Pray for those students and faculty at Penn State who seem to be more upset about the firing of their head football coach rather than the sexual abuse of children by a former assistant coach. http://tinyurl.com/86pyy8f
    • Please pray for 10-year-old L.T.* who was stranded in the psychiatric ward of a children’s hospital in Washington, D.C. for eight weeks. L.T. was admitted after stabbing a relative in the eye with a pencil and threatening suicide. Give God thanks that the legal wrangling between the hospital, county officials, and the boy’s mother was resolved and a proper placement in a long-term care facility was arranged. Please pray that L.T., who experiences episodes of violence and depression, will find healing and peace. Pray for his relationships with his mother, father, and other relatives.  http://tinyurl.com/897xptz http://tinyurl.com/3lxxl2g

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.