NCM at the Academy - December 2009
7 Ways to Pray Compassionately
1. Bath time: Think Clean Water.
Nearly 1.1 billion people are without access to clean water—that’s more than the combined populations of North America and the European Union. Without access to clean drinking water, children are at a much higher risk for life-threatening diseases like diarrhea, intestinal worms, and cholera.
2. Off to work: Think Child Labor
Circumstances for many children worldwide require them to work to support themselves and their families. These children earn less than $1 a day, if they are even paid at all. Around 176 million children work in ways that are likely harm their health, safety, or moral development—such as bonded labor, slavery, or sexual exploitation.
3. Lunchtime: Think Hungry Kids
McDonald’s serves nearly 50 million people worldwide each day. Three times that number of children go hungry every day, leaving them undernourished, vulnerable to disease, and prone to stunted growth.
4. News Break: Think Education
There are 117 million children worldwide who do not receive a primary level education. Without education, these children are condemned to carry out menial jobs and will struggle to provide for themselves and their families.
5. Heading Home: Think Displaced Children
The number of displaced people in the world has steadily decreased over the last five years, but there are still an estimated 9.25 million children who have been forced by violence or disaster to leave their homes.
6. Visit the Pharmacy: Think Medical Access
2.4 million children die each year from diseases that could be prevented by vaccination. Many children lack access to health care for diarrhea, malaria, and measles simply because they are poor.
7. Bed Time: Think Orphans
The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, reported in 2006 that 143 million children in the developing world are orphans. That is 1 in every 13 children. Still today, 15 million children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. That is roughly the total number of children in Germany or the United Kingdom.
*Adapted from “7 Ways to Pray” originally printed in the World Vision Magazine Winter 2006.
