Farming used to be a key source of income in Burkina Faso, but the climate crisis has made the weather unpredictable, crops fail, and families have few other opportunities to earn money to survive. 80% of the population is dependent on agriculture to earn an income. When crops fail, families go hungry, and they are forced to make hard decisions so that they can survive. Parents are now sending their children to work in the gold mines. It is dangerous and no place for a child, nevertheless thousands of children now work there. They work instead of going to school, and miss out on being children, playing with their friends, learning, and dreaming. However, Tearfund’s local partner CREDO is working with farmers to help restore the soil and provide training on new farming techniques and harvesting climate-resistant crops.

Following the devastating explosion in Beirut last week, on 11 August prime minister Hassan Diab resigned. A professor of sociology has said, ‘Lebanon is facing the most dangerous moment in its history. The options are grim. If there isn't a serious will from the international community to create strong structural changes in Lebanon, we are going towards civil war. There is no alternative. It's very unfortunate to say that in this country we don't believe there is rock bottom any more.’ What a new Lebanon would look like nobody knows, but getting there will not be easy. The country is entering a period of political darkness. Protesters want root and branch reform. The state of emergency declared on 5 August brought the army onto the streets to prevent freedom of assembly, freedom of speech and freedom of the press. They also can now enter homes and arrest anyone deemed a security threat. Pray for corruption-free candidates to stand for selection in a completely safe and authentic change of leadership election.

Cities with significant pandemic outbreaks are the same ones that are consistently affected by other seasonal respiratory viruses, such as flu. 10/40 Window countries are primarily in North Africa, the Middle East, India, and Southern Asia. That’s two-thirds of the world’s population. Three out of every five people have no access to the Gospel and they are predominantly the poorest of the poor; they enjoy fewer advantages than their more affluent neighbours. There is limited access to skilled nursing care and appropriate medicines to treat ailments. Many families live crammed together in one room. Six feet separation is unrealistic. Consequently there will be higher rates of infections and deaths than in the more developed nations. Young people are sometimes the worst offenders in failing to take proper precautions. Pray that they will take the responsibility and lead the way in controlling the spread of coronavirus (1 Timothy 4:12).

A pro-life filmmaker is claiming censorship after his documentary was removed from Amazon Prime video ‘because of poor customer reviews’ despite the film receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews. Marcus Pittman’s movie, ‘Babies are Still Murdered Here,’ goes into the deep underpinnings of major national lobbyist groups. It asks why after 46 years babies are still being murdered. Amazon categorises reviews based on keywords: some keywords were pro-life, end abortion and pro-life movement. This may be why the film was removed. Amazon has faced allegations of censorship before. Last year it pulled books describing how a relationship with Jesus Christ helped people out of same-sex attractions, saying it was in ‘violation of our content guidelines’, but did not point out which parts were objectionable.