HOMELESS

• Gather the latest information about homelessness and the causes of it in your nation and in developing nations around the world. Homelessness can be caused by war, economic downturns, drug/alcohol abuse, etc.
• Using newspaper, have children get into groups of two or three (depending on group size) and take turns covering each child with newspaper. The child(ren) not covered in newspaper (which represents a blanket) prays with empathy for the child covered. Then they switch and take turns.

NIGHT COMMUTERS

• There is a serious situation in Africa among children who are avoiding abduction by rebel groups and forced into becoming child soldiers. These thousands of children walk (usually an hour each way) from their huts in the country to sleep on verandas, in hospital basements, and other safe public places in villages/towns. To find out more, visit: www.invisiblechildren.com.
• Have children meet with backpacks and walk from one point to a place where they can roll out their sleeping bags and spend some time thinking and learning about night commuters or child soldiers who do not choose to be fighting. It may even work to have a large group "sleep over" at the church if there are facilities - spend time praying and in intercession for this group of children at risk. (You may even want to show an edited version of the Invisible Children documentary)

CHILD SOLDIERS

Over 300,000 in:
RUSSIA, INDIA, NEPAL, SRI LANKA, INDONESIA, MYANMAR, PHILIPPINES, IRAN, AFGHANISTAN, SUDAN, IRAQ, YEMEN, SIERRA LEONE, LIBERIA, GUINEA, IVORY COAST, CHAD, UGANDA, RWANDA, BURUNDI, DRC, RC, CAR, SOMALIA, ANGOLA

• While night commuters is about those children trying to escape becoming soldiers, this section deals with those who do not run away (or can't) or those who are enticed to become child soldiers by the promises of a better life, money/family, or protection from harassment. You may want to grab some photos or even some footage from CNN on child soldiers to share with the children. You may also want to find out from the UN where the largest populations of child soldiers are. Lots of info at: www.child-soldiers.org and www.childsoldiers.org. Google "child soldiers."
• After explaining this topic and showing photos, if you have one, put a large floor map down and ask children to show you were large concentrations of child soldiers are. Then, give each child a green plastic "army man" (Wal-Mart -- 52/$1.99) to represent these children at risk and ask them to walk around the map and pray specifically for each concentration of child soldiers. You may want to put specific prayer points at different places on the map. Also, laying the printed pictures on the map will ad another dimension that is helpful to kids who need to see the need when they pray.

AIDS ORPHANS

• As the AIDS epidemic sweeps through Africa, the world community is expecting the rate of orphans to rise to at least 50% of the continent's entire population. Some countries are harder hit than others due to war and misinformation about the disease. The need is already staggering...it will only get worse without prayer. Find out more (Google: Aids Orphans) at www.worldvision.com.
• Print out photos of AIDS orphans (that nobody wants because of the disease) and have children brainstorm or listen to the Holy Spirit for ideas of how to focus their prayer power in this situation. If you want to give them something other than a picture to hold on to while they pray, considering bringing in little dolls or having a child make one of some kind as a prayer project.

For statistics, etc., please visit the November 2005 article "Children at Risk."

Submitted by: AC (c) 2006