The following nine prayer ideas could be set up as a series of stations to help your congregation, church or community journey with and for the women of Sierra Leone. While you may choose not to use all nine, there are nine to mark the nine months of waiting and hoping for the birth of a healthy baby.

To guide us in our prayers we reflect on the experiences of nine women in the Bible and nine women in relation to motherhood and Sierra Leone. Prayer and motherhood are woven closely together. We have produced a separate resource gathering together all of the Christian Aid Week prayers, including suggested prayer points. You can download this at caweek.org/resources

Preparation instructions are provided below for each station. We have kept these as simple as possible so they will be easy for you to do.

Prayer stations or creative prayers

Preparation:

Print off the pages below, one for display at each of the nine stations.

Other items:

• Station 1: Provide a soluble ink stamp pad and an A4 piece of paper.

• Station 2: A selection of keys.

• Station 3: Two teddies or baby blankets to represent twins.

• Station 4: A basket, pieces of paper and a few pens.

• Station 5: A black cloth draped over a table, with copies of the daily devotional which contains our campaign postcard, pens and a shoebox with a small opening in the lid.

• Station 6: A number of tealights on a heatproof surface. Long matches or tapers to light the candles.

• Station 7: An empty chair.

• Station 8: Pieces of paper, pens and a glass jar with the word ‘gratitude’ written on it.

• Station 9: A Christian Aid Week envelope.

Eng and Wales registered charity no. 1105851 Company no. 5171525 Scot charity no. SC039150 Christian Aid Ireland: NI charity no. NIC101631 Company no. NI059154 and ROI charity no. 20014162 Company no. 426928. The Christian Aid name and logo are trademarks of Christian Aid. Christian Aid is a key member of ACT Alliance. © Christian Aid January 2019. J80212

Eve and Kadie‘The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all who live.’ Genesis 3:20

In Hebrew, Eve means “living“, or “giver or sustainer of life“.

Give thanks for the miracle of life and that every baby is uniquely and wonderfully made, including you!

Place your index finger on the ink stamp pad and then put your fingerprint on the page and pray with the words of the psalmist:

‘For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.’ (Psalm 139:13-14)

Give thanks for baby Hassan, who is six days old in this picture. He was born in Sierra Leone and his mum Kadie says: ‘I’m so happy my baby is healthy.’

A few years ago, Kadie had two baby boys who died from a lack of medical care. When she was pregnant with Hassan, she was worried about giving birth, thinking that her baby could die. Give thanks for his safe delivery.

Prayer stations or creative prayers

Station 1Pray for the work of Christian Aid’s partner RADA, helping pregnant mothers to give birth safely by training nurses, providing health centres and empowering women in Sierra Leone.

Sarah and Rejoice‘Now Sarah said, ‘God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.’ Genesis 21:6

Sarah had laughed when she overheard the messengers foretell news of her pregnancy (Genesis 18:9-15).

Sarah was a mature mum, to say the least, giving birth to Isaac around the age of 90! Her laughter-filled joy was after long years of disappointment.

‘Is anything too wonderful to the Lord?’ the messengers at the Oaks of Mamre had asked her.

In fact, Sarah and Abraham named their son “laughter”, the meaning of the name Isaac.

Another child who must have brought such joy and laughter to her mother is Rejoice.

Rejoice is 16 and is enjoying going to school. She knows how important education is, so important that she ran away to a kind uncle who she knew would send her to school. By going to school she can fulfil her dream of becoming a lawyer.

Education helps girls to reach their full potential in Sierra Leone and across the world. It is a key factor in preventing early marriage and pregnancy which often leads to premature death.

Lift one of the keys and, as you hold it in your hand, pray for Rejoice and young women like her. Pray that the message of education as the ‘key to every door’ will be heard clearly through her life and example.

Prayer stations or creative prayers

Station 2

Rebekah and Sombo‘Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.’ Genesis 25:21

Not only did she conceive, she gave birth to twins! Jacob and Esau.

Give thanks for these healthy twins in Sierra Leone pictured below: Jenebar (left) and Sarah (right). Give thanks that their mother Sombo delivered them safely.

Hold the teddy or blanket as you read this short reflection:

The two baby girls are two weeks old.

Little eyes opening, scrunching up to you, cuddling up to your body. Scrunching noses. Tiny fingers.

Tiny hands, moving softly, softly. A string around their wrist. They open their eyes to take a peek at the world. The mum holds the twins, one in each arm. She smiles and looks peaceful. Their hands twitch. They breathe softly.

Warm little bundles of love.

Yandaygo (beautiful).

Praise God for their little lives, and for their safe delivery. Pray that Jenebar and Sarah live full, healthy and happy lives and Sombo has all she needs to care for them.

Prayer stations or creative prayers

Station 3

Jochebed and Judith ‘The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby she hid him for three months.’ Exodus 2:2

It was a dangerous time to have a baby boy in Egypt when Moses was born. That is why Jochebed had to hide him away, to prevent him being killed by Pharaoh’s officers. He had commanded that all baby boys be killed. When Moses got too big to hide, his mother placed him in a basket in the reeds alongside the river. His sister Miriam kept watch.

It is a dangerous time to have a baby in Sierra Leone today.

Ten women die from giving birth every day.

One in nine babies don’t live to see their fifth birthday.

The other part of Jochebed and Moses’ story was the incredible work of the midwives Shiphrah and Puah. They refused to fulfil the Pharaoh’s orders to kill every baby boy that they delivered. They remained true to their vocation to bring life into the world.

In Sierra Leone, trained nurses and healthcare workers are vital to ensure the safe delivery of babies.

Give thanks for nurse Judith, pictured, who has been supported by Christian Aid partner RADA. She is full of compassion and care for the mums and babies who come to the health centre.

Write a prayer for the safety of mums and babies in Sierra Leone and place it in the basket. Give thanks for nurse Judith and pray that RADA can support more nurses like her.

Prayer stations or creative prayers

Station 4

Rachel and Fatmata‘Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel was in childbirth, and she had a difficult labour. When she was in her difficult labour, the midwife said to her, ‘Do not be afraid; for now you will have another son.’ As her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath.’ Genesis 35:16-18

Ben-oni means ‘Son of my sorrow.’

Ten women die from giving birth every day in Sierra Leone.

Like Rachel, Fatmata died giving birth on the side of the road. There were too few ambulances nearby so she had to walk for three hours, under the baking sun, to the nearest hospital. The road was long and she struggled to keep walking. She was weak with hunger and did not manage to give birth. She died by the side of the road.

‘Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought; but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.’ (Romans 8:26)

Allow yourself to sit with the sadness of these stories in silent prayer before God.

We believe that Sierra Leone should be able to provide the healthcare that will prevent such tragic deaths in the future. Mothers should not be dying in childbirth. Sierra Leone could and should be able to provide more adequate healthcare facilities, more ambulances, more trained nurses. However it is still paying off loans needed to tackle the Ebola crisis in 2014, diverting money away from the healthcare that is desperately needed to tackle death in childbirth. We believe that Ebola debt should be written off.

Since the UK Government has huge influence as the fourth-largest shareholder in the International Monetary Fund, we are calling on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to:

• ensure all Sierra Leone’s debts on the loans it received for fighting the Ebola outbreak are written off

• take urgent action to prevent new debt crises in developing countries and tackle them effectively when they arise.

If you want to add your voice to this call and to stand together with the pregnant mums of Sierra Leone, sign our campaign postcard at the back of the daily devotional, tear it out and put it in the shoebox.

Prayer stations or creative prayers

Station 5

Hannah and Tenneh‘...’O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child…’ 1 Samuel 1:11

Hannah longed for a child and poured out her heart before God so fervently, Eli the priest thought she was drunk! God heard her prayer and in time she had a son, Samuel.

These extremes of sorrow and joy are part of the miracle of life for so many across the world.

Tenneh, pictured, has known them more than most.

Tenneh’s first baby died within months of a traumatic birth. Yet now, with the help of nurse Judith, she has a healthy, beautiful three-month-old son, Ansumana Bangalie.

Tenneh is so grateful for the help and support of nurse Judith: ‘With the coming of Judith, so many lives have changed. We as mums know that with Judith, as long as we see the light at the end of the tunnel, we’ll be OK.’

Light a tealight and pray that more mums in Sierra Leone will be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel because of Christian Aid Week.

Prayer stations or creative prayers

Station 6

Michal and Joanna‘And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.’ 2 Samuel 6:23

There are at least seven women in the Bible who struggled to have children, or who are described as barren. Michal is the only one who did not in the end have a child.

2 Samuel 6 does not make it clear why Michal is childless. Verse 23 comes directly after she and David, her husband, have strong words about his naked display of devotion to God, but it does not state that her childlessness is punishment. We are not even told whether Michal wants to have children. All we know is that she did not have a child. The rest is a mystery to us.

As we tell the sorrowful and joyful stories of childbirth in Sierra Leone, it may touch a sensitive nerve in our own hearts and lives, or the life of our church community. Childlessness is a difficult topic to talk openly about and yet the source of much unspoken grief in many hearts.

And we too perhaps jump to conclusions about why some have no trouble and others so much heartache to have a longed-for child. God invites us to sit with the mystery.

In Sierra Leone, Joanna, Christian Aid’s Senior Programme Officer (pictured), tells us that: ‘Communities here see a woman dying in childbearing as the will of God. But we work so they know it is unacceptable.’

Take a seat and choose to sit in the mystery with God. Pray for a situation of childlessness that you may be aware of in your community. Or sit in the silence of mystery if it is relevant to your own life. As you sit, pray for the breaking of misconceptions and ending of wrong ideas about what the ‘will of God’ is in our lives and in the lives of women in Sierra Leone.

Prayer stations or creative prayers

Station 7

Elizabeth and Beryl‘This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favourably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.’ Luke 1:25

What a remarkable woman Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, was. Zechariah couldn’t even tell her that she was going to have a baby, having been struck mute at the prospect himself. Can you imagine him trying to sign-language that!

And as she comes to the awareness of her pregnant circumstances, in later life, her words express her acceptance and joy. She is full of gratitude.

Such gratitude gives birth to generosity which leads to life.

Beryl Margaret Hadwin was born in 1927. She worked as a midwife in London, where she met her husband, Sidney Ellis.

Later in life, Beryl had an operation on her eye. When she woke up after surgery, she saw an African nurse holding her hand. From that moment on, such was her gratitude, she vowed to leave a gift to healthcare in Africa.

Sadly, Beryl died in 2015. But her love lives on, through the incredible legacy gift she left to Christian Aid.

The Ellis-Hadwin Health Legacy was set up in Beryl’s name. It’s a fund set up to deliver a three-year health programme (2016-2020) in Africa, specifically in Burundi, Sierra Leone and South Sudan, as well as Kenya and Nigeria.

Beryl’s extraordinary gift means women and babies around the world can survive and thrive.

Write down what you are grateful for on a piece of paper and place it in the gratitude jar.

Prayer stations or creative prayers

Station 8

Mary and Jebbeh ‘And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.’ Luke 2:7

It adds to the wonder of the Incarnation that Jesus chose to come into the world in this risky and vulnerable way, as the child of a pregnant teenager.

The risk of death in childbirth in Bethlehem at the time of Jesus’ birth makes this an even more incredible idea to consider.

And yet that Jesus, the Word made flesh, chose to come into the world by this risky way shows how in life, as in his death, he was willing to fully enter into solidarity with the pain of the world.

Jebbeh, pictured, awaits the birth of her child. She knows the risk she faces all too well: her sister Fatmata had to walk for miles, under the baking sun, to the nearest hospital when she was in labour. With every step, Fatmata feared for her life and the life of her baby. With great sadness Jebbeh told us: ‘My sister was crying out with hunger. She died on the side of the road. She never gave birth.’

By the inspiration and example of the most incredible baby of all, we are invited to sit, stand and walk in solidarity with Jebbeh and all pregnant mums in Sierra Leone and around the world in places where the risk of death in childbirth is so much greater.

Take a Christian Aid Week envelope and give it to a neighbour, friend or stranger and stand together for justice, equality and dignity for pregnant mums everywhere.

And give thanks that we too can pray with the psalmist:

‘Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.’ Psalm 22:9

Prayer stations or creative prayers

Station 9