By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
LAKE FOREST, CA (ANS) -- It was back in 1975, as a young newspaper reporter based in London, England, when I was given the rare opportunity of going to Calcutta (now known as Kolkata), to interview Mother Teresa who went onto to win the Nobel Peace Prize and was known as “The Saint of the Gutters.”
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Book cover |
I had first become aware of Mother Teresa after viewing “Something Beautiful for God,” an inspiring BBC TV documentary made in 1970 by British journalist, Malcolm Muggeridge, who had gone to Calcutta to film her work. Having been an agnostic up until then, the experience turned his life around and he became a follower of Jesus Christ and was soon affectionately called “St. Mugg” by the British media.
Mother Teresa’s words still live with me today. This extraordinary woman, born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (AG-nes GOHN-jah BOY-yah-jee-oo) in Skopje, Macedonia, on August 27, 1910, and her family was of Albanian descent.
I immediately warmed to this gentle woman with a leathery face and a tender smile, who had seen more poverty than anyone I had ever met.
Speaking in the founding, festering slum where she made her simple home, I was surprised to hear her express pity for the “poverty-stricken West.”
“The spiritual poverty of the Western World is much greater than the physical poverty of our people,” she told me, as the fan whirred above us, trying to alleviate the unbearable heat of that Indian city.
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Dan Wooding with Mother Teresa in Calcutta back in 1975 |
“What they are missing, really, is a living relationship with God.”
At the time of my interview, I hadn’t realized that so many of those living on the streets of Calcutta, and so many other Indian cities, in conditions worse than the animals, were the Dalits, also known as the “untouchables” or “outcasts” and more recently because of the Oscar-winning film, “Slumdog Millionaire.”
The Dalits comprise nearly one quarter of India’s society, with population estimates of them of 250 million people.
“The term ‘Dalit’ means ‘those who have been broken and ground down deliberately by those above them in the social hierarchy.’ Dalits live at risk of discrimination, dehumanization, violence, and enslavement through human trafficking every day. By all global research and reports, the Dalits constitute the largest number of people categorized as victims of modern-day slavery,” says the Dalit Freedom Network.
Now K.P. Yohannan, the Indian-born Founder and President of Gospel for Asia, has followed in the footsteps of Mother Teresa by committing much of his life, and that of his ministry, in helping these downtrodden victims of India’s caste system which is split into five different levels: Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra, and Harijans (Dalits.) Within each of these categories are the actual “castes” or jatis within which people are born, marry, and die.
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K.P. Yohannan smiles during an interview with Dan Wooding in India |
In it he tells a series of potent and moving stories of downtrodden lives transformed, whole communities blossoming with new life, as this next great wave of hope takes place in the “World Biggest Democracy” -- India.
I can remember K.P. Yohannan, once telling me in an interview at his headquarters in Tiruvalla, Kerala, that in the early days of Gospel for Asia, there was not much emphasis on caring for poor, needy and the suffering.
But then K.P. discovered the terrible plight of the Dalits and he began this new dimension of the GFA ministry by starting Bridge of Hope centers which now offer a place to more than 59,000 mainly Dalit children to grow in both academic knowledge and the knowledge of the Savior. Through the Bridge of Hope outreach, children receive education in their scholastic disciplines and also learn practical skills, such as making handicrafts and maintaining proper hygiene. In addition, the compassionate dedication of the Bridge of Hope staff manifests Christ's love to them and their families as quite often these newly-educated Dalit children then take home the “Good News of Jesus Christ” to their often illiterate parents.
Another key work has been the “Jesus Wells” which are vital for life to all people, but if you are a Dalit, you will likely be barred from drawing water from the village well at all because of your “inferior” social status. And Christians suffer too, as persecution commonly comes in the form of banning them from the local water source.
Now God is providing these “Jesus Wells” for such communities. Bearing a plaque with the inscription of Jesus’ words in John 4:13-14 about offering eternally satisfying water, each well is a tangible expression of Jesus’ love. The well not only provides families with life-nourishing physical refreshment, but also points them to the true source of Living Water.
As you read “No Longer a Slumdog,” you will be transported into the shocking lives of slavery that so many people, especially children, still endure in India today.
But, as you read this inspiring book, it will not only bring tears to your eyes, but also bring you hope that there is an answer to all of the seemingly intractable problems of India, and that is found in the love of Jesus Christ as it is daily shared and lived out by K.P Yohannan and his co-workers.
Thousands are now finding that they are “No Longer a Slumdog,” but instead, are followers of the “Prince of Peace,” who came to set the “prisoners” free. This is a book that will not only change your life but one that you should share details with your many friends and colleagues around the world.
And you can rejoice with K.P. Yohannan that this new “Revolution in World Missions” is taking place right now on the subcontinent, a land that we should all care about. I thoroughly recommend this fine book.
For more information, please go to: http://nolongeraslumdog.org
| Dan Wooding, 70, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 200 countries. You can follow Dan on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link.Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link. |  |
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