[Today’s Prayer] UN: "2 Rohingya refugee boats sink; over 400 estimated to have drowned"

The United Nations said that it is estimated that over 400 refugees on board drowned after two boats carrying Rohingya refugees from a refugee camp in Bangladesh sank.

According to AP, AFP, and other news agencies on the 23rd (local time), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that due to the dire conditions in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, more and more Rohingya refugees are risking their lives by going to sea, but that two major maritime disasters have occurred this month alone.

According to UNHCR, a boat carrying 267 Rohingya refugees sank on the 9th while heading to neighboring Myanmar's Rakhine State. Only 66 of the passengers survived the accident, and the rest are missing.

The next day, on the 10th, a ship with 247 people on board sank along a similar route, with only 21 people surviving.

The Rohingya, a Muslim minority, have long been oppressed as an ethnic minority in Myanmar, where the majority is Buddhist, and more than a million of them are currently living in refugee camps in Bangladesh near the border to escape persecution.

However, because life in refugee camps is also poor, refugees board old wooden boats to go to countries such as Malaysia, where Islam is the state religion, or Indonesia, where Muslims are the majority, from October to March, when the sea is relatively calm.

The Bay of Bengal, through which refugees cross, is extremely dangerous due to heavy rain and rough waves, as the monsoon season usually begins in May.

UNHCR explained that the fact that Myanmar refugees are boarding boats even in May shows how desperate the situation in the refugee camps is.

Source: YNA News

You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal” (Isiah26:3-4)

Loving God, we are saddened to hear that two boats carrying Rohingya refugees from a refugee camp in Bangladesh have sunk, leaving 400 refugees missing or drowned.

Lord, we believe that the sovereignty of all life is in your hands, and we ask that you guide those who are missing to return safely to the arms of their families, and that you touch their broken bodies and hearts.

We pray that You will be the only hope for the Rohingya people as they move from Myanmar to Bangladesh and from Bangladesh to other Muslim countries due to persecution and harsh conditions.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is so needed among the Rohingya who are risking their lives and traveling on dangerous roads in search of a better life.

In the ASEAN countries of Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia, where the Rohingya are making their way, we ask that they may hear the gospel through the churches and believers You have left behind.

As they hear the gospel, let them know that their hope is in You alone, and as they trust and look to You through acceptance of Jesus Christ, give them a true peace that no one else in the world can give.

May the Rohingya be a rock of eternal protection as they trust in You, so that they may stand before You in the face of all persecution and hardship.

Would you encourage the ASEAN Church to pray for the suffering Rohingya people. Through prayer and evangelism, may the Rohingya no longer live in hardship as refugees, but as missionaries who, together with the ASEAN churches, will go to the nations to share the gospel.

May the Rohingya and ASEAN churches unite together to fulfill the vision of one million missionaries in ASEAN!