8th November 2026

At least 60 people have been killed in Yemen over the past two days. Yesterday airstrikes hit homes in a village near the capital, Sanaa. At least 25 people were killed and 30 others wounded, mostly women and children, a spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi-run Health Ministry said. Saudi Arabia has been accused of the assault but there has been been no comment from the Saudi-led coalition backing the government in Yemen. Footage from Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV showed staff at a local hospital carrying limp bodies of several young children out of ambulances at a local hospital; some had horrendous wounds. Others lay on stretchers, bloodied and bandaged whilst staff tended to them.  On Friday, an airstrike in a market in southern Yemen killed at least 30 people.  The attacks and casualties indicate the rapid escalation of war in Yemen after a year long truce collapsed over the summer.

God of love hear our cries for our neighbours living in Yemen, parents now grieving the loss of children following the assaults over the past few days, children fearful of their futures without parents. Bless the work of medical teams working to advance healing of wounds and to bring comfort and compassion to people traumatised by war. Hear our cries for hope, for change, for peace. Move among the leaders of the various factions, soften hearts, break political deadlocks, open closed minds, open eyes closed to the pain and suffering this war is causing. May people come before power.  May your justice and peace reign. May death and fear be changed into life and hope. We pray in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Amen.

Nine-year-old Baindu lives in Kamasu, a village in Sierra Leone with a medical condition that gave her bowed legs. It meant that  playing outside with friends was very painful and often ended in her returning home alone. She spent most of her childhood indoors. Unlike other children in the village, Baindu couldn’t fetch water, pound rice or climb into bed. She needed help,” said her grandmother, Mamie. Walking to school was painful so she stopped going. Then, Baindu’s uncle heard about Mercy Ships and the free surgeries they offered. He helped her register for treatment, and Mamie insisted that she would accompany Baindu to the floating hospital. Once on board the Global Mercy™, Baindu was diagnosed with Blount’s disease. Mercy Ships performed a three hour operation to correct the alignment of Baindu's legs. Then they supported her recovery with a sustained period of rehabilitation, with exercises designed to strengthen her muscles and improve her balance.  After five months away Baindu was able to return home.  Baindu said, “I thought I would stay like this [with bowed legs] until I am grown up. The thing I hope for in the future is to become a doctor, because doctors heal people,” she said.

You can find out more about Mercy Ships here.

Loving God, you are the source of life and love.

You have made us in your image

and set us in a world full of beauty and delight.

From the beginning you made yourself known:

the heavens proclaim your glory

and the earth sings your praise.

You made us in your image

and you love all that you have made.

We thank you for giving us life

We thank you for Jesus

and that he came to live among us.

We praise you that he embraced people with your love,

 healing those in pain. 

We thank you that he taught us

how to live with one another

and that he loves us so much

he died for us upon the cross.

We praise you for raising him from death

and that he lives with you forever.

We thank you that through faith in him

we may share in his resurrection.

 We thank you for your Holy Spirit,

who teaches and strengthens us.

 Praise and glory be to you loving God. Amen.