How Do You Rescue a Child Out of Poverty?
Worldwide Weekend of Prayer for Children 2010
I really like the way these children created artwork to depict the plight of an at-risk child named Fatima. During a Junior church in Canada, children focused on a story about Fatima, a girl whose parents sent her to the market with a note that she could not read. The note said, “Fatima is available to work for anyone who will hire her.” The Junior church children discussed problems Fatima might face. They pictured her life as being in a pit and talked about how she could escape. They ended by praying for at-risk children like Fatima around the world.
Later, these children followed their heartfelt prayer with deeds: they demonstrated their concern by donating clothes for Haitian children and bringing food for a local food bank.
What could your response be to the hard facts of life?
One of their leaders described the response of the children:
“They were very aware of how alone and scared [Fatima] would be. We went without snack and when they asked about snack, we talked about how hungry this child would be, and prayed for the Lord to feed these children as well as protect them, and comfort them.
“One of the girls said, ‘She needs a new family!’ We teachers laughed spontaneously, but it gave us the opening to talk about sponsorship. And how wonderful it would be for this child to be sponsored, before the family came to the point to taking such drastic action. The blessing that sponsorship is and how little it costs us. I give up one coffee on the road a day to pay for it. So, little.
“Personally as a mum and grandma, my fear levels for Fatima and others ran very high . . . but God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind. And so focusing on Him and processing it in prayer, [the prayer time] was very special. We are sooo blessed!”
The International Labour Organisation estimated: “a staggering 180 million are working in the worst forms of child labour, with at least 8 million in worst forms such as child prostitution, forced labour and armed conflict.”
Like Fatima above, children in countries like India can be exploited as slaves, working to pay off debts incurred by their own families.
What could you add to this picture as way of escape out of child labor for a girl like Fatima?
