In Zimbabwe, food is scarce, prices are skyrocketing, fear reigns—and the man behind it all, President Robert Mugabe, just inaugurated himself to another term of office. Now there’s the threat of civil war, and the faint hope of the opposition party holding substantive talks with Mugabe’s government. Meanwhile, the oppressed people of Zimbabwe wait. In a letter received by WORLD, a pastor in Harare offers chilling details of the ordeal facing the Zimbabwean people:

“The wickedness is unbelievable, the lack of concern for struggling people is demonic, the deafness of those in power to the cries of the suffering and the commitment to self-advancement at the expense of others are hard to believe. How can any in power inflict such suffering upon their own people?”

What can we do? First and foremost, we can pray, as this pastor requests:

“[P]ray for God’s righteous judgment to come, for God to lift His powerful hand, for evil to be crushed, for those that dig a pit to fall into it, and those that spread a net to be caught up in it, that God will be seen to defend the defenseless and father the fatherless.”

Whether you’re a believer or not, I encourage you to read this pastor’s letter in its entirety. It will go a long way to help you better understand the plight of this oppressed people.