Pray for Every Nation: Haiti {Guest Post}

Today you will read a guest post from my friend, Sarah, at Welcome to Love. She has an incredible passion for Haiti and will show you how you can effectively pray for this country!

I didn’t know anything about Haiti until I decided to go there. It was 2002, I was 17 years old and it was my first mission trip. The only thing I knew was that Haiti was poor.

It turned out that Haiti is the poorest country in the western Hemisphere:

The current state of Haiti is the result of years of oppression, abuse and, above all, the prevailing lie that Haitians are subhuman, unworthy of freedom or prosperity. Racial inequality continues to deny the poorest Haitians access to education or opportunities to better themselves.

I left Haiti in 2002 in love with the people but overwhelmed by the hopelessness. I had worked in an orphanage filled with kids who had simply been abandoned. Hundreds more simply died in the streets or experienced much worse. How can this happen, I wondered, and where do you even begin to help these people?

The beauty of Haiti is a stark contrast to the widespread poverty.

I learned from Wess Stafford, president of Compassion International, that poverty is not a lack of food or money but that it is a lack of options. The lie of poverty says that you are helpless, that you cannot change your circumstances and don’t deserve to do so. It’s another kind of slavery. By teaching a child, at a young age, that they are valuable that they can change their circumstances and by giving them the tools to do so, you squash the lie that has permeated the culture of Haiti for centuries.

That child is going to grow up and change their world simply because no one is telling them that they can’t.

This is some of the art children create to sell. This painting was a gift for our group, they would not let us pay for it.

Compassion is a Christian child sponsorship program that is dedicated to doing just that. They partner with local churches within the country to establish a child development center and to connect children with sponsors around the world who, in addition to funding their participation in the program, serve as mentors, encouraging and loving their sponsor children through letters.

When I went back to Haiti in November of 2011, I visited three of Compassion’s child development centers and saw the work they were doing firsthand. I saw classes filled with students who would not have been able to afford the necessary uniforms and books to attend school. More than just reading and writing (which is, itself, a miracle) saw students learning to stay healthy, sew, cook and use a computer.

This is a mother and baby in one of Compassions infant-centered programs. The moms were learning to cook in this class.

Compassion also has programs targeting protecting infants and developing young leaders. Child development centers create new jobs. Local churches become powerful centers of the community. New families are drawn into fellowship through their children. Where lies and despair once ruled, the gospel is bringing light.

Pray for Compassion International:

I've been sponsoring Fabiola since she was three years old (she just turned 11) This was the first time we met.

That more children would be sponsored!
That the leadership would continue to maintain high standards of transparency and accountability
That they would continue to find new and innovative ways to educate children and parents
That sponsors would be faithful to encourage their children through letters
That children and their families would be protected from disease and violence

Pray for Haiti:

Honest and strong leaders who can unite the divided people and create real reform
End to government corruption
End to gang violence
A cooperative relationship with the international community
Freedom from racial inequality and oppression
Universal access to education
Freedom from false religions like voodoo
Protection from diseases like Typhoid, Cholera, HIV, Hepatitis, Dengue Fever and Dysentery

Sarah Brewer is a lover of Jesus and purveyor of stories. A self-described “picker,” she loves to tear things apart in order to see how they work. She thinks many thoughts and has built much of her life on the assumption that she has good ideas and people should listen to them. But, hidden within all the hubris, is a passion to share the transforming love of God and the radical truth of his grace with the hurting. She pours out her thoughts at www.welcometolove.net