“Suffer the little children to come unto Me.”  Jesus

On 16 June 1976, the schoolchildren in Soweto started a march to the police station carrying a petition that demanded that they be taught in their own language and not have Afrikaans forced on them. Some of the placards carried by the children, said “Please don’t shoot, we are peaceful”. No one knows what the spark was, but the police, frightened by the body of children started shooting indiscriminately. It is estimated that about 176 students died in the uprising, one of the first was Hector Pieterson. We have all seen Sam Nzima’s picture of him being carried by Mbuyisa Makhubu and his sister Antoinette next to them. Before 1994, June 16 was known unofficially as Soweto Day, and with the new constitution became Youth Day. It is a day to remember our youth and those around the world.

Sadly, many children are kidnapped, sold into sex slavery, used as child labour, forced into child marriages or used as child soldiers.

In your prayers this week,

• Bring before God children under all forms of oppression, bondage and violence, in particular……
• Pray for those taken into bondage, for the children forced to be sex slaves.
• Pray for the parents and loved ones of those who have disappeared, never to be heard from again.
• Pray for the children forced to labour, toiling in the harshest of conditions.
• Pray for child brides, forced into marriages by their parents or as kidnap victims.
• Pray for all who are working toward the freedom of children enslaved by others, for strength to continue with the work and for success in their endeavours.