Every week we learn about a different country or group of people needing prayer. We study their situation and then pray for them throughout the week.

Please join us in prayer for the Garifuna (gah-ree-foo-nah).

Garifuna drummer in church

The Garifuna people are descendants of slaves that now live in Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Belize.  In the 17th century, Spanish and British ships carrying slaves from Africa were shipwrecked, and some of the slaves escaped to St. Vincent.  Others were set free by their masters.  Many married Carib Indians.  They caused trouble, so in 1797 the British shipped them off to Roatan in the Caribbean.  They eventually made their way to their current homes.

There are now around 100,000 Garifuna.  These black Caribs mostly farm and fish.  Although they speak Spanish, Garifuna is the language they love.  They are now learning to read in Garifuna.

The religion:

Garifuna are mainly animists.  They believe that there are evil spirits living in all objects. and they live in constant fear of these spirits.  They think that howling wolves, dreams, and crying chickens are omens that tell the future.  (Chickens don’t cry…do they?)

Missionaries translated the Bible into Garifuna.  They also brought the Jesus film in Garifuna to the people.  They loved it and thought it was amazing.  They understood how fishermen could fish all night and not catch a thing, and loved that Jesus helped them catch fish.  They were amazed how Jesus healed people and could talk in their own language.  They were delighted that He could calm a storm, when their men would die in a storm like that. They thought He was much more powerful than their many spirits of the water.  More and more Garifuna believe in Christ every day.

Belize sunset

Hannah asks you to thank God for all the Garifuna that believe in Jesus.  She also wants you to pray that the Garifuna will receive Bibles in their own language.  Marissa prays that their will be more Bibles printed in the Garifuna language.  Elisabeth says to please pray that the Garifuna will learn that God made the earth “and stuff like that.”  Emily prays that the Garifuna will learn about Jesus.  Elijah wants you to ask God to “please help the children have more Bibles and more babies.  Amen.”

Learn more:

For more information, check out the following links:

• a revealing article about the  religious practices of the Garifuna.  (Mother note: this article contains information about rum-induced trances and ancestral spirit communion practices.)
• a comprehensive overview of everyday life and struggles of the Garifuna.

Thank you,

Hannah, Marissa, Elisabeth, Emily, and Elijah Bagasao

I Timothy 2: 1, 3: I urge then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for everyone. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

2 Responses to “Bagasao Children’s Prayer Club: Garifuna”