Category: Blog

March 27, 2024

WOW (Working for Orphans and Widows) is 25 years old, founded by my wife and I in January 1999.

 

We did so in response to the devastating HIV and AIDS pandemic that swept through Sub-Saharan Africa in the last two decades of the twentieth century, creating the biggest orphan and widow crisis in history. Our response was directly informed by the scripture stating that “God is a father to the fatherless and defender of widows” (Psalm 68:5). Our call to the African churches was “Every church a Mother Theresa”. If that little Albanian nun could challenge the world by her ministry to the dying in India what might the impact of thousands of churches be if they committed to doing the same in Africa? We resigned our great church in Vancouver and began from scratch, living out of suit cases for the first eight months as we ground it out pursuing a vision to mobilize the churches of Africa to become active in the rescue and care of “the least of these” as Jesus put it. Needless to say our humble efforts have seen us immersed in sorrow on sorrow as WOW has engaged some of the poorest and beleaguered people on earth. And, even though we have seen thousands cared for in the name of Jesus, the relentless impact of disease, poverty, and weather disasters continues.

 

A case in point is the massive drought in two nations where we work, Zambia and Malawi. Both countries have declared national emergencies and have appealed for emergency aid from the European Union, United Nations, and the West. And, on a much smaller scale our ministry partners have appealed to us as well.

 

We respond not only out of compassion but of duty. The Lord has called us to do what we can and our faithful supporters here in North America have risen to the challenge. We’re doing our best to light a candle of hope. I’m very grateful for all who have and will continue to “hold up our arms” at this difficult time.

March 13, 2024

I just received a report on the drought and consequent pending famine that Zambia is now facing. This on the heels of a cholera pandemic. Sorrow on sorrow.

Our partner ministries there, CHRESO in Lusaka and Impact Community Outreach (ICO) in Kabwe, are in the midst of all this and by extension so is WOW (Working for Orphans and Widows). We’ve been helping fund their desperate struggle against cholera, now this.

We’re assessing the need and will respond with the compassionate support of WOW’s faithful supporters. The world is in trouble on several fronts but it’s a great privilege and responsibility for us to step into Zambia’s crisis with our care.

I need make no remark on the geopolitical challenges of our suffering planet other than thank the Lord that we can be a small player in easing the travails of the suffering. I want to ask you to pray and do what you can to help us in the struggle. May the Lord continue to supply the need.

February 28, 2024

Recently as I was driving to the television studio to record “Jim Cantelon Today”( JCT TV) the black clouds and driving rain made visibility almost impossible. Along with all the other drivers I had to reduce speed to a crawl. I say “all” but there were, as you would expect, a few cars and a truck or two that rushed past at a reckless rate, spewing swathes of standing water onto our already overwhelmed windshields. At any moment I expected the worst. For sure there would be a pileup of crashed vehicles. As it turned out I made it through unscathed but it took an hour or so when I reached the studio for the adrenaline to subside.

 
It struck me as I drove that this was an instance of driving “by faith and not by sight”. I had to have faith in the other drivers with no guarantee that they would keep to their lanes and not race through the storm like those few irresponsible speeders.
Indeed, even in the best driving conditions we drive by faith in other drivers that they will obey the rules of the road and not careen through the traffic like they’re in a car race. And, to change analogies, we eat the food we’ve purchased, we sleep in our beds at night, and live our daily lives trusting the integrity of those who supply our needs.

From time to time our faith in others is tested. A case in point would be scores of drivers who are facing huge repair costs because a local gas station last week in Ontario served gasoline that was mixed with windshield washer fluid. They filled their tanks in faith albeit without any sense that faith was involved. Good gasoline is a given no?

The Bible states that we “walk by faith and not by sight”. We put our trust in the Lord even though He is unseen. We hope for a home after death in an as yet unseen heaven. We order our core values and day to day lives with a sense of accountability even though “no one  has seen God at any time”. Little wonder that those who don’t believe see us as offside with the general culture of the world. St. Paul captured it when he said, ”We see through a glass darkly”. We’re more blind than sighted, but we put our trust in our Heavenly Father, holding his hand as a little child, believing “He knows the way that we take”.

February 14, 2024

We recently received a report from our WOW partner in Zambia,ICO (Impact Community Outreach). They  have been engaged in a cholera mitigation project in the Kabwe region in response to the spread of this extremely virulent disease. Thousands of Zambians have been infected with hundreds of deaths.

Poverty, dirty water, and poor sanitation all contribute to Cholera’s spread. These factors are rife in the villages where ICO works. So they made an urgent appeal to WOW for emergency funding in order to purchase soap, chlorine, and disinfectants. We responded and ICO set out to train their volunteers in hand washing and disinfecting methods who then went into the villages to teach our orphans and widows how to combat this wasting affliction.

 You would think that basic sanitation is a given, but it’s not. These impoverished dear ones have no money to buy soap, and rarely have access to clean water. So the rules of sanitation which we here in the West take for granted are like a foreign language to rural Zambians. The idea, for instance , of adding chlorine to their water is beyond their grasp.

Nevertheless our champion volunteers went to work and in the past few weeks the spread of this nasty disease has lessened. Amazing that just soap and clean water can make such a difference no? It’s a matter of life and death.

This is a powerful reminder to us that what we take for granted should be reason for gratitude. Grateful for soap? for clean water? Yes. Grateful.