Wednesday, 24^th November, 2021

Bible Reading: Ecclesiastes 7:7, 1 Corinthians 6:19

Memory Verse: For oppression makes a wise man foolish, And a bribe corrupts the [good judgment of the] heart. Ecclesiastes 7:7 (AMP)

Dawitt was 19 years old. He escaped Eritrea at age 13 to avoid forced, indefinite conscription into military service. His family helped him pay smugglers to travel via Sudan to Egypt. Struggling with debt and desperate to make the sea crossing to Europe, he searched in vain for regular work. Then he met a Sudanese man who suggested a “safe and easy way” to raise the cash which is by selling one of his kidneys. Dawitt was given blood and urine tests, then taken for surgery.

Afterwards, all he remembered after that was waking up and feeling a sharp pain by his side. At the end, Dawitt lost on all sides. He battled with his health, he wasn’t renumerated and at the same time didn’t get to travel to Europe. Dawitt’s story is more common than statistics suggest. According to a 2018 report, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has collected data on 700 incidents of organ trafficking, primarily from North Africa and the Middle East.

Yet these figures are conservative, at best. The true scale of the industry is difficult to assess, as the majority of cases go unreported, with victims reluctant to come forward for fear of deportation, arrest or shame. Report says the trade appears to be flourishing in Egypt, bolstered by an EU-funded clampdown on refugees by security forces. There, the hostile environment created by the arbitrary detention of migrants, and the hike in smugglers’ fees, is presenting organ brokers with an opportunity to profit from those desperate to raise funds to cross the Mediterranean.

International organ trafficking is a big business with an estimated value of $50m in 2008, according to Michael Bos from the European Platform on Ethical Legal and Psychosocial Aspects of Organ Transplantation. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated in 2007 that organ trafficking accounts for 5 and 10 per cent of kidney transplants performed annually across the globe. “There are criminal underground organisations providing kidney transplantations,” says Luc Noel, coordinator of essential health technologies at the WHO. “But most cases involve the poor, the destitute and the vulnerable that are willing to part with an organ for money.

The common denominator [with theft and “consensual” sales] is profiteering,” he told Al Jazeera. Poor people can reportedly earn between $3,000 to $15,000 for selling their organs, specifically kidneys, to middlemen who re-sell them to wealthy buyers for as much as $200,000.

Be warned: Don’t be too desperate for money at the expense of your health, misuse of your body, and relationship with God. God makes all things beautiful in His own time.

Quote:  Your body must be used only to the glory of God

Prophetic Decree: I curse the spirit of poverty in your foundation, in Jesus name.

Prayer Focus

1. Forgive me O Lord for the misuse of my body, in Jesus name.

2. O Lord, please deliver me from overtly desperation, in Jesus name.

3. Even in the land of poverty, like Isaac, I shall sow and prosper, in Jesus name.

4. O Lord, open my eyes to the project of my prosperity, in Jesus name.

5. I receive courage to pursue the project of my prosperity, in Jesus name.

6. I will not fall into the hands of organ traffickers by my own sheer will or ignorance, in Jesus name.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:  Galatians 1-3