“Give me oil in my lamp to keep me burning; Give me oil in my lamp, I pray;…” At the opening of the press conference, 30 children of different cultures and speaking different languages got together to sing the English hymn, which received a big applause.

Hank Du, Executive Director of World Vision Taiwan, welcomed them by saying, “These healthy and happy children had the opportunity to come and present songs to you because they receive support from many kind people in Taiwan.”

Du continued, “However, 9.7 million children die before the age of 5 every year, 9.3 million children do not go to school, 125 million children do not have access to clean water, 158 million children aged between 5 and 14 work as child laborers, and 2.6 billion people do not have access to any sanitation facilities in the world. We urge you to give your support to those children whose lives are still being threatened.”

Tomorrow (Saturday May 3) children's choirs from Romania, Mongolia, Philippines, El Salvador, Swaziland, and Taiwan will perform the Prayer Concert ~ Be Friends with Children of the World hosted by World Vision Taiwan at the NTU Sports Center. World Vision Taiwan invites the public to attend the concert and enjoy the beautiful voices of the children who have endeavored to overcome their own hardship and to bring positive change to the world.

Each year World Vision Taiwan organizes a children’s campaign, “Be Friends with Children of the World,” to engage children all over the world to speak up for themselves through various talents, such as sports, painting and singing.

“Pray for Change” is the theme of this year’s campaign. In addition to the concert, children from 20 countries, including Taiwan, were involved in writing prayers under the topics of poverty, environment and peace; 15 of them were selected to come to Taiwan to share their prayers with the public, in the hope that their collective effort will help to change the world.

At the press conference, the children’s choirs presented another song – the Taiwanese folksong Diu Diu Dong – that they have practiced laboriously over the past two months.

In addition, four children also read their prayers in person and shared the ideas that are presented in their prayers.

Andrei, a 14-year-old boy from Romania, needs his father’s company at his age very much, but his father has gone to Italy to work for 5 years. He misses his father very much. And his best friend’s father has left for Iraqi to battle for half a year. Andrei knows a lot of children in Romania, just like them, whose fathers go abroad to work or serve in the army so they can make money to support the families. Because of his personal experiences, Andrei knows how hard life can be when the father is away. So on behalf of children in Romania and all over the world, he prayed to God to bring their fathers back home safely.

Andrei prayed, “Angel, I haven’t seen my father since he went away my mother says he is well and healthy but sometimes I can hear her crying at night. What if he never comes back? Angel please take my prayer to God and ask Him to end all wars and bring peace to Earth.

I want peace, Angel, because in peace can families be happy and children can grow up with their parents taking care of them. Please, Angel, don’t forget about me and take my message to God. I know that he will listen to my prayer and bring my father home safe.”

Vehid, ten-year-old boy from Bosnia and Herzegovina, likes to sit beside the lake to appreciate beautiful scenery. But he feels upset when he found garbage around the lake and the scenery of lake is not beautiful at all. So he is concerned about the issue of environmental protection and often prays to God to save the environment.

Vehid prayed, “I ask God to protect this lake. God, please, please recover environment and give chance to people to learn to love themselves first; then they will learn how to love the nature. Please, make them aware of importance to protect environment and give them strength to care.”

Vehid loves to play football and wishes to become a football player in the future. He said he will advocate for environmental protection when he becomes famous.

“I am praying for the peace in our country. I pray so that you will eliminate poverty. Please provide to the children that do not have clothes and food. I pray so that they can feel you in their hearts, and that they believe that you are with them everywhere,” prayed Fiorella, 12-year-old girl from EL Salvador.

She said, “All my prayers are from my heart. I believe everyone is born equal and has the same opportunity to have food and clothes. So I prayed to God for elimination of poverty.”

Fiorella prays for her sponsor every day. Her sponsor, Huang Hwei Myin, has sponsored her and helped her go to school for more than 2 years. Fiorella looks forward to meeting her sponsor and giving her thankfulness in person.

Jui-lin is a 13-year-old boy from Penghu, Taiwan. His life has been improved since he became a sponsored child of World Vision Taiwan. However he knows that a lot of children in the world have no food, clean water, education, and other essential things for life; therefore he prayed for these children in need.

He prayed, “Dear Lord Jesus, I know that many kids in other places around the world are too poor to go to school. Though hungry, they may not be full. Even when they get sick, they do not have money to go to the doctor. I pray that God would send many skillful adults to go to those countries and help them. Let them be able to go to school, not to be hungry and be able to go to the doctor. As I received help from others, I want to learn to have a helping heart to help others.”

World Vision Taiwan is now sponsoring over 150,000 children both overseas and in Taiwan through a holistic development approach to meet children’s needs in education, health, water, housing, livelihood and spiritual development.

Some 163 children will perform a Prayer Concert at 3-5 pm, Saturday May 3, at the National Taiwan University Sports Center. In addition to giving their unique cultural performance, these children’s choirs will present together a Taiwanese folksong that they have practiced laboriously over the past two months.

World Vision Taiwan invites the public to attend the concert to join in the children to make a difference in the world. Registrations are taken online (www.worldvision.org.tw) or by phone (02-2175-1995), and free tickets will be available between 1 and 2 pm at the reception desk in front of the National Taiwan University Sports Center before the concert begins.