Song of Thanksgiving

Written by Jim Cantelon on September 23, 2025. Posted in Blog.

Kathy and I have heard a lot of praise to the Lord from the lips of the suffering. It is truly astonishing and humbling to hear the voices of hundreds of villagers singing songs of thanksgiving even in the midst of constant disease and death. Over 25 years of WOW’s ministry to afflicted orphans and widows we’ve heard thousands of voices raised in praise in village after village.

Perhaps the most poignant of all was the faint and faltering spontaneous hymn of praise sung by a young dying widow as she lay on a blanket outside her mud hut one hot day in Malawi. Her voice quavered as she sang in her native tongue, “I praise you Father for your faithful love. I praise you Father for receiving me to yourself. I come to you now.” Then she breathed an almost inaudible prayer, “Please care for my children…” Two hours later she had passed into the Father’s presence. I wept.

Thanksgiving. What a concept! We will be thanking God this Fall for our abundance, celebrating his faithfulness around tables groaning with food. But what about thanksgiving when you’re living on less than 2 dollars a day and you’re dying from HIV&AIDS, cholera, COVID, or some opportunistic diseases like pneumonia or tuberculosis? How does one find the energy, let alone the faith, to lift one’s voice in a song of thanksgiving under such pressing adversity? There is no way that this can happen apart from supernatural strength. I believe such songs are evidence of the Spirit of Christ within.

King David was a master poet whose psalms are bathed in the spirit of thanksgiving. There are so many examples. Here’s one:

“The Lord is my strength and shield.
I trust him with all my heart.
He helps me,
and my heart is filled with joy.
I burst out in songs of
thanksgiving.”
Ps. 28:7

As founder and president of WOW, my heart is bursting with thanksgiving! First of all, I’m thankful for God’s unfailing love. Secondly, I’m thankful for the champion ministries with whom we partner. Let me give you an overview.

Kyle and Nicky Tolman
CROSS CONNECT – South Africa

Kyle and Nicky Tolman are founders and leaders of this vital ministry to orphans and widows in the so called “irregular settlements” on the outer fringes of Johannesburg. With WOW’s support they have created “House Nehemiah”, a home of rescue for abandoned children and abused young women. They have won the respect of local government, police, and social services officials to the point that they are often asked to be first responders to reports of children in crisis. Everyone knows they represent the Lord in all they do. They and their staff of 35 are truly “salt and light”.

Pastor Helmut and Esther Reutter
CHRESO – Lusaka, Zambia

Pastor Helmut and Esther Reutter are founders and leaders of this amazing ministry. Starting from scratch 30 years ago with a focus on the HIV&AIDS crisis, their hearts broken by the fatal consequences of this disease, they established a humble clinic in Lusaka where Esther’s nursing training was put to work. Helmut, an entrepreneurial pastor of the highest degree, got to work building adjunct ministries. A church, a radio station, a school, a television station, a university (!) fully accredited by the Zambian Ministry of Education, an orphanage, several rural clinics, and most recently a hospital (at Victoria Falls) and an extension of the university in the Copperbelt region. They are seen by Zambians as a national treasure and by us too. WOW provides funding for the purchase of medications, solar power for their rural clinics, and bicycles for their volunteer Home Based Care (HBC) workers. They are saints of God and we’re humbled and blessed to have worked with them since 2001.

Pastor Eric and Joyce Mwambelo
IMPACT COMMUNITY OUTREACH – Kabwe, Zambia

Pastor Eric Mwambelo founded and leads ICO with unfailing love for the orphans and widows of central Zambia. With a faithful and talented ministry team, he is literally changing the culture of the town of Kabwe and its surrounding communities of the sick and dying. A key component in ICO’s outreach is a remarkable farm called “Rob’s Farm”, named after our son-in-law who suffered an accidental death while building a Bible college in Kitwe. The farm is a wonder to everyone in the region. It’s like an oasis of abundance growing and providing organic vegetables for ICO’s orphans and widows. It is doing so well that the excess produce is sold in the market, the profits providing the cost of farm maintenance. Eric’s church is bursting with thankful people and is the mother church to a number of new church plants. We’ve partnered with ICO since 2002 and we’re thankful.

Chief Theresa Malila
SOMEBODY CARES – Malawi

I met Theresa Malila, founder and leader of SCM, in 2002 when I was preaching at a church service in Lilongwe, Malawi. In response to my call to the Church to practise both righteousness and justice, she asked me to pray with her about a call from the Lord to quit her well-paid government work and start a ministry to AIDS afflicted orphans and widows. True to that call she began a ministry that now has national attention and respect. Today SCM has a huge national footprint incorporating HBC, feeding programs, schools, gender based violence mitigation, safe houses for abused girls and young women, Bible training for young adults, and various social and paralegal interventions in concert with law enforcement authorities. On top of all this, she is also a regional chief and a dedicated pastor. When we’re with her and her well-educated and committed staff, we feel we’re walking with angels. We’re thankful that we can both inspire and help fund this world class ministry.

Ed Dickson
LOADS OF LOVE – Ukraine

We also partner with LOADS OF LOVE in Ukraine, providing food and clothing for women widowed by the war and their fatherless children. Ed Dickson has a humble spirit and a servant’s heart. His compassion for the displaced widows and orphans in Ukraine is truly inspiring. We’re honoured to support his ministry.

And we have another partnership with a humble church providing vital food, medicines, and general poverty interventions for street orphans and widows in a country that shall remain unnamed because of national government pressure.

Needless to say I find myself singing songs of thanksgiving in my early morning prayer times each day. It is such a privilege, and a humbling one at that, to partner with saints of God faithfully preaching and living the Gospel.

Finally, let me say it LOUD & CLEAR, I’m so thankful for YOU and your faithful support of WOW. You are PILLARS for us.

I’m thankful that you’re singing songs of thanksgiving too!

Many blessings,