Just outside the city, Manzini, there is a slum. Most of the people living there are refugees. Some of them have been cast out of their families; a common response when someone is found to have HIV/AIDS. These people are not allowed to own land and most are unable to find work. They are forced to "squat" on the land surrounding to city dump. There is no space to farm; the people are hungry. They rummage through the dump in search of any materials they might be able to sell.
After spending some time going door to door talking and praying with the people there I found that the biggest concern of the families there is prostitution forced by hunger. The women there are selling their bodies for bread. I was horrified to learn that even girls as young as six were known to perform sex acts for a single piece of bread.
This is not the hope and the future that my God has planed for those that love him! We are praying for the Lord to reveal his strategy to reach these young ladies. We are praying for the Kingdom of light to shine where the enemy has planned destruction and hopelessness. I have been taking interns into the slum to have our quite times in the areas known for prostitution. We always go with several loaves of bread!
Please partner with us in prayer for the squatter camp. Pray that the Lord would show us favor as we step into this new ministry. Pray that as we pray in these locations God would usher in his presence and people would come to believe in the One who delivers us from every kind of sin.