PRAY FOR CHILD LABOUR

CHILD LABOUR – GLOBAL STATISTICS

· 246 million children are child laborers.

· There are 2.5 million working children in the developed countries, and another 2.5 million in Eastern European countries.

· The largest number – 127 million – of working children age 14 and under are in the Asia-Pacific region.

· The highest proportion of working children is in Sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly one third of children age 14 and under (48 million children) are in the labour force.

· 73 million working children are less than 10 years old.

· Every year, 22,000 children die in work-related accidents.

CHILD LABOUR – THE WORK

· 70% are in agriculture, commercial hunting and fishing or forestry;

· 8% are in manufacturing. (Factories, making carpets, clothes, glass, matches, fireworks, Brick quarries, Mines etc.)

· 8% are in wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels. Street Vending and Garbage dumps, collecting items to sell.

· 7% are in community, social and personal service, such as domestic work. (It is estimated that 20-60% of all working children are girls in domestic service. Because these girls work out of sight within private households they are extremely vulnerable to physical, mental and sexual abuse)

· 8.4 million children are trapped in slavery, trafficking, debt bondage, Soldiers, prostitution, pornography and other illicit activities.

· 1.2 million of these children have been trafficked.

CHILD LABOUR – HOW TO COMBAT?

· Reduce poverty so there is less need for children to work.

· Increase adults' wages so there is less need for children to work. Adults need a living wage.

· Improve working conditions so that children's health and safety are ensured.

· Shorten children's working hours so they can attend school.

· Ban hazardous and exploitative work such as bonded labour, sex work, military conscription, mining and all work that exposes children to toxic substances or extreme temperatures.

· Make education more attractive and relevant to children's needs.

WITH CHRIST I AM A HERO

WITH CHRIST I AM A HERO

“Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves but our competence comes from God.” (2 Cor. 3:5)

Many people, even believers suffer of severe inferiority complex and are unable to overcome it. The first step that a believer should do for overcoming his/her inferiority complex is to realize that he/she is in Christ. There is absolutely nothing inferior about Christ. Since we are in Him and He in us, it follows that there can be nothing inferior about us! When we have the assurance that Christ lives in us, then we will overcome the inferiority complex by the awareness – “ I no longer live but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). The Bible is full of numerous promises which are meant for us to claim whenever we fall low in spirit. Let us confess these promises in faith. Let us speak positively of our position in Christ. Colossians 3:3 says, “Your life is now hidden with Christ in God”. So let us declare and confess boldly, our fellowship with Jesus. A wrong confession will imprison us, but a right confession will set us free from the bondage of low self esteem.

When we are weak, let us declare, “Let the weak say, „I am strong‟” (Joel 3:10). When we feel defeated let us say, “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:14). When satan puts a doubt in us that we have failed as Christians, then let us confess, “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day” (2 Timothy 1:12). When we are afraid, let us declare, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8: 31). Let us say with apostle Paul, “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37) and “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

Dear friends, when the Lord leads us to do something for Him, let us not be immersed in our inferiority complex, but step out fearlessly, trusting that He will give us the ability to do what has been assigned to us. If we do so, we will certainly excel in our job far better than our counter parts. Amen.

PRAYER: Loving Father, give me the courage to come out of my shell of fear and low self esteem. Help me to remember that it is not my own ability that I am relying upon to achieve something but it is Christ within me. I am always more than a conqueror. In Jesus‟ name I pray. Amen