Let us pray
Father, as we cry out to you today, we cry out to you against the backdrop of a nation that is in the throes of despair, a nation that is being crippled and is sinking in the quicksand of impoverishment. We are covered by the morass of corruption and social ills left right and centre.
Since the beginning of the school year, a number of our children have been killed. Students have been involved in altercation, violently wounding each other. We have seen incidents also of children being ill-treated at school, even recently, as a result of the tardiness, the unprofessionalism, the dereliction of the duties and the responsibilities assigned to the Minister of Education and others to ensure that the schools are ready for this new school year.
A number of schools are still not ready! Too many of them are not ready and so many of our children are forced to be under tents and others are forced to be under trees. Recently there was this sudden downpour of rain and the children and teachers had to scamper for cover. They had nowhere to cover because the very buildings that are on the property were not in good condition, and so they could not shelter under these buildings from the rain or the elements. Yet we have a Prime Minister that had the temerity to be talking about when they are on the outside they are closer to nature and that it is better than being in hot boxes. He should be ashamed of himself. These are the persons we have leading us as a nation and yet they show up at different church services giving the impression that they are for righteousness when they themselves are living in opulence.
Many of our leaders have multiple homes; many of them their children are in privileged positions. Even the Prime Minister himself, when his children were going to school, he pulled them from school because he claimed that he was concerned about their safety and was concerned about how they were being treated in the schools. This Prime Minister is now talking out of another side of his mouth, and giving the impression that the education system is in good stead. This is the same Prime Minister who continues to refuse to pay the teachers.
How many of our schools are understaffed? How many of our schools are struggling with the teacher-student ratio? Oh we are having many cases where there are over 40 children to one teacher and then also the classroom facilities are less than adequate. On top of that there are a host of other problems with the health sector. We continue to see reports of persons having to be sitting on chairs; persons dying on chairs because there is no bed space.
We continue to see reports of persons being ill treated at hospitals. We are not totally blaming the hospital staff; we place most of the blame at the feet of the government because they are busy doing all manner of things. Just recently, they made this grandiose announcement about Spark where billions of dollars have been made available to patch and repair roads. As soon as these roads are so-called repaired, then within a matter of a week or two they are in a state of disrepair again. Monies continue to be flushed down the drain and the people are suffering.
Father, we thank you that you are not asleep. We thank you that you are mindful of the cries of the people of this nation.
Amen
