Impact TV

23/10/2023

I weep for my land 😢

29/09/2023

12/09/2023

OUR STREAMS ARE NAKED

I went to the streams today,
But I could not have a bath;
All I met was brazen nakedness--
Naked people in naked streams.

Olo Ekoli has lost her head;
Iminika has grown so lustful;
Uduji is stripped down to his knees;
Olo Ugwuoko has become shameful;
Iyi Ichakara is downcast:
They have all become 'strip clubs'!

The young men are restless, lusting after nakedness.
Our girls are besieged;
Their pride squashed;
Their innocence stained,
And their virginity lost to lustful eyes.

All I see is violent nudity,
Wailing for intervention.

WHO WILL BELL THE CAT?

~Ben Nkama
My Pen, My Pride
23/12/2016

07/09/2023

ANAMANA
(Historical Fiction)

In the past, there rose a young man whose strength was unrivaled among his mates. His name was Anamana. Just like his name, he was uncontrollable.

He was huge and a head above most men in the clan, young and old. Because of his uncanny stamina, stature and stubborn spirit, everyone, especially his mates, always gave him his way. No one would naturally argue with him over any issue—farm land, food or rights. While the other young men would look for a long stick to pluck a ripe paw paw, Anamana would simply shake the paw paw tree and then wait to catch the ripe fruit among the fruits that would fall from the force of his hands.

Just like most tragic heroes, Anamana could not manage his natural gift. He allowed his strength and the privileges people willingly gave him to enter his head. In time, he began to insult his elders. He did not even spare the old men.

"Go and call your son to fight me," he would challenge an old man after speaking or behaving rudely towards the old man.

"The rat that dances absent-mindedly in front of a trap must have an evil-minded drummer drumming for him," an old man once warned him.

"The rat, then, must be confident that the trap is nothing but a mockery," snapped Anamana.

"When a child starts challenging his elders, if he doesn't have money in his pocket, then he must have some charms there. What is really drumming for you, Anamana?"

"My strength, nna. My father is proud to have me as a son. If you are proud of your son, bring him out to challenge me."

"Be careful, Anamana. The ancestors are watching you. Make sure you have a seat reserved for you among them when you leave this earth."

Sadly, Ananama did not heed the old man's advice. In fact, he never regarded any piece of advice from the elders. He would simply tell them that the rat that is still growing teeth does not try it on a stone, that they should avoid him.

You would surely ask what role did Anamana's parents play all along, wouldn't you? Well, I will tell you.

In Edda tradition, it behoves a man to raise a man. It is a general saying that a snake killed by a woman does not bleed. It would only take a special kind of woman, a manly woman, to raise a hero out of a male child. All that the women are accustomed to are the kitchen work, raising their daughters in a way they will make good wives in future, the use of 'omere Ugep' machete, as against the 'oge' machete a real man in Edda is expected to wield, and the planting of the 'feminine' yams—'ona', 'nkasi', 'edu' and 'mbula'.

Given this background, the onus was on Anamana's father to put a check on the erring young man. But did his father stand up to this responsibility?
Anamana's father was a great dibia. He too was boastful of his art. He never feared or respected anyone because he believed that no man could do him any harm. His charms were a potent protection for him. Thinking that he would always be there for his son in times of severe confrontation, physical or spiritual, he was adamant against the community's call to put the unruly young man in check.

With Anamana's increase in his sauciness to his elders came a heightened hatred against him. The elders plotted secretly and waited for an opportunity to deal with him.

The opportunity came at last. It was the 'Igba Mgbom' game of the year. The 'Mgbom' was a game the Edda people used to test the strength of their young men. As such, it was not a game for effeminate young men or those with lumps of flesh on their chests instead of muscles.
All the young men participating in the game had to walk or run from Edda to Mgbom in Afikpo and come back with objects purposely left at Mgbom Afikpo as a proof that they really got to the finish line. They had to do this without taking either water of food.

As I had earlier said, it was a game of the brave. Only young men who could endure hunger and thirst for hours and those with exceptional stamina could succeed in this game. Again, it used to be 'war', because a lot could happen along the way going or coming back. Some young men would faint along the way or have their enemy or the enemy of their fathers waylay them along the track roads and eliminate them.

Those who completed the task were highly welcomed back to the village and honoured. Their parents would be given yams, goat, c**k, palm wine and so on to appreciate the heroism of their young men. The young men called 'ewa Mgbom' would also be honoured with farm land presents referred to as 'ali ike'.

While Anamana was itching for the event and hoping to be declared the champion of the year, some of the elders were waiting to use the event to show him what the spirits do with the ears of the fowl.

As expected, Anamana took off from Edda, ran manly along the narrow paths to Mgbom Afikpo, got his souvenir and then started on his way home. A lot of the other competing young men trudged far behind him while some fainted along the way. With the gap between them, it would only take a dint of sorcery for Anamana to be overtaken.

However, Anamana had three hills to climb before tramping down the slope that would throw him into the hands of his over-excited villagers. Then, as he mounted on the first hill, his feet began to weigh more than a rock. To lift one foot would require the strength of seven mighty men. But Anamana was only Anamana, and no seven mighty men.

This reminds me of the arrogant woodpecker. The woodpecker used to peck wood for the burial of other birds. Then he began to brag that he would peck all the wood in their vicinity the day his mother would die. But when the day eventually came that his mother did die, the woodpecker had boils all over his mouth!

At the foot of the first hill, Anamana was like the woodpecker. His strength, the one he used to brag about, was just rendered a crap. He pulled and pulled, mounting all the strength he had, but all to no avail. In time, it became clear that the young man was being manipulated. A great charm was working on him.

You would ask again where his 'dibia' father was, right?

Before the take off of the young men for the marathon from Edda to Mgbom Afikpo, Anamana's father had 'fortified' his son to his taste, 'clearing' his path to and fro and 'liquidating' any obstacle, human or spiritual, that might come his way along the lonely, dreary distance between the two clans. As I had pointed out, his charms were so powerful that he had little or nothing to fear about men. So, he considered the year's 'igba Mgbom' as nothing and went his way.

So, by the time Anamana was wrestling with bewitchment from his enemies, his father was in the bush gathering some herbs with all the cares of the world cast behind him.

Back in his village, the people had their expectations dashed to shreds when it had way passed the time they anticipated the emergence of Anamana on top of the last hill that was overlooking the village. It was then that one young man went running and searching for Anamana's father. He later found him in his usual bush.

"Come quickly, ette!"

"What is it?" said Anamana's father, dropping the herbs in his hands and stepping forward to meet the young man.

"Come! Come, nna. The duck is drowning in the water!"

"Tufia! Not in Edda will such an abomination begin! Get out of the way!"

Anamana's father took off from the bush and trotted behind the young man who ran ahead of him. The young man was surprised that the old man simply broke into a run without asking him any further questions to get the information he had come along with. But as he picked his steps slowly now to help the the old man keep in pace with him, he concluded that 'dibias' had four eyes, anyway—two for the physical world and the others for the spiritual realm. Yet, he wondered why he had to alert the 'dibia' in the first place before he sensed his son was in danger.

When Anamana's father found his son reduced to nothing, sweat was pouring out of his body like the quick drift of Iyi Okali down to Ali Ugwelu. Although he was now halfway up the hill, he was losing his chances of arriving the village on his feet and risking tumbling down the slope on the other side of the hill like a stone.

The old man touched his son and said, "The fowl knows the size of the chick he carries. Anamana, you are too big for a baby hawk to mess you up. I command you to move!"

At that instant, Anamana felt an incredible lightness and agility come over him. He picked up the race again with the vigour of a spirited 'egede' masquerade.

When the enthusiastic villagers were informed of the turn of event, their curiosity heightened, and their expectations renewed.

Anamana ran victoriously ahead of his father, but he could not triumph anymore. The old 'dibia' climbed down from the first hill only to find his son again at the bottom of the second hill powerless and stockstill. His trouble was double as much as the first his father had just released him from.

The old man cast off the spell again on Anamana and had him speed off again with a stamina greater than the one he had begun the marathon with. But Anamana had to run again ahead of his father, for he was losing time. The other few young men who were making it successfully back to the village were gradually closing in. So, he had to run as fast as he could to not only arrive the village on his feet but also to be the first to be welcomed back from Mgbom. The celebration he was going to enjoy was above all. So, he had to run ahead of his father.

By the time Anamana's father met him hypnotized again halfway the third and last hill to the village, the young man was lying helplessly on the hill like an exhausted beast of burden. He was too burned out for any more magical experiment from his 'dibia' father. So, Anamana did not only lose the Mgbom game and the honour that was undoubtedly his but was also carried on a stretcher into the village.

What societal lessons can be derived from this story?

04/09/2023

Ofo Egburegbu chat with Hon. Stanley Okoro Emegha, Ebonyi State Party Chairman, loading...

Like the page to be updated.

27/09/2022

BE A RESPONSIBLE FATHER

Seriously, some of us wish we heard these words from our papa or mama while growing up:

"You are my son." (Acceptance)

"Come to me, my dear son." (Endearment)

"I am here for you; don't be afraid." (Protection)

"Lay your head on my lap." (Bond and fondness)

"Take this. Buy akara." (Money/Gifts)

"These are clothes I bought for you." (Provision)

"You will certainly go to school, whatever it costs me." (Complete Education)

"You are going to be great, my son. Your mates will never overtake you." (Motivation)

"You are special; you are valuable; you will surely make me proud." (Affirmation)

"This house and that piece of land will be yours after I die." (A Home/A Good Start in Life)


They may be our experiences, but we must vow to give our own children the essential ingredients we ourselves could not have, as God helps us.

08/08/2022

TOWARDS RESTORING THE FACE OF OLO

"Time influences culture" ~Ben Nkama

Olo festival is a female initiation festival of Ekoli like Ndagha of Asaga Owutu and Okwe of Libolo.

The above, like any festival in the world, are meant to bring warmth to a community, relieve them of stress and instil the spirit of harmony among the people.

But they have declined over time, with Olo still struggling between life and death.

The two key bane of Olo pratfall are:

THE FE**SH RITES AT THE GROVE OF THE GODDESS: At the cave, where the founding of Olo festival occurred through an innocent girl Eke Ume Eze, sacrifices are done with the blood of a fowl, binding the girls with the goddess.

This part with the goddess is expected to go on for seven years after which the virgin girls are permitted to marry. This can be scraped.

This is not a matter of church or whatever. It is a fact that not even every traditionalist is comfortable with appearing before a god or goddess to enter into an agreement with the deity. My mother is a traditionalist, but she deplores visiting a "dibia" for whatever, even in her youth.

Due to civilization, many people now have a misgiving about "dedicating" themselves or their sons or daughters to a god or goddess.

2. THE COSTUME OF THE CANDIDATES: Olo candidates wear only beads on the waist (for the "anyagha" and the "elireli") or pieces of cloth wound round the waist (for the "enna").

These items are too short that spectators can look into the centre of the laps of the girls. And the body is bare to show their succulent, "innocent" breasts (the "enna" who have not even had the first forming of the breasts has nothing to hide or be ashamed of).

But, as I witnessed this year, the candidates wore the beads or the pieces of cloth over their pant. Yet, I saw one or two (the "enna") with their ge****ls partly exposed to public view.

The pant revolution was enforced when the Ugwelu women pressured Mr. Ulu Oji to release his own daughters for the Olo initiation. Mr. Oji was a retired top government official and a great personality among the Ugwelu village, who are the "owners" of the Olo festival.

Mr. Ulu bowed to pressure but not after insisting his daughters wear pant and bra for the festival. This was widely condemned by Ugwelu women. How would their own daughters wear only beads or pieces of cloth while Mr. Ulu's daughters wore pant and bra?

At last, the women accepted the pant, but not the bra. That was how the pant wearing came to be.

In my judgement, Mr. Ulu's demand was an aberration to the age long tradition of the Ekoli women, but he was really passing a message of revolution to the women, if only they were not too blind and conservative to notice that.

Olo festival can retake its position in the hearts of the people if only the two factors above are looked into.

Below are some pictures.

One is a drawing of an old picture of Olo candidates. Two are of this year's festival in April. The other is from Ekori people of Cross River State.

You can spot the difference in the costume of Olo of Ekoli and that of the girl from Ekori of Cross River State.

The Ekori people have a similar festival like Olo of Ekoli people, Ndagha of Owutu and Okwe of Libolo, all in Edda, Ebonyi State.

But the Ekori people do not strip their daughters. They do not show neither the bare breasts of their daughters nor their upper thighs, not to mention the ge****ls, as the picture shows.

Olo, Ndagha and Okwe can be modernized:

* Remove fe**sh rites from them and dress the girls more decently and colourfully.

* Make it enticing to all, their religious beliefs notwithstanding.

* Introduce other side attractions to it like wrestling, beauty pageant, dancing competitions and so on.

* Let winners (individuals and villages) go with mouthwatering prizes.

When this is done, you will see that our girls will not continue to forbid the festivals. In fact, they will be looking forward to it every year. They will be itching to take part. They will not mind spending on their costume to appear the best. They will be glad to invite their friends and colleagues from far and near.

When the festival gains national honour; and international recognition follows, we may not be able to count the blessings.

I believe one day, someone will act on this.




~Ben Nkama (Benkam)
8/8/2022

08/08/2022

OGWUMA LANDSLIDE: THE STRESS THAT COMES FROM LACK OF PROACTIVENESS

The earthfall at Ogwuma Edda and its attendant troubles on the people is a proof of the ill that befalls a town that abandons its major roads and maintains only one motorable road to and out of the town. It has also shown the embarrassment of lack of proactiveness on the part of government representatives.

About ten households have been displaced, and the road closed entirely. Ogwuma people who have their farms and palm fruit mills at Iyereoba are temporarily handiscapped. Business men in Ekoli, Ogwuma, Letu and Libolo, who used the road for the transport of purchased goods or products from outside Edda, are stranded. The cement lorries that used to moan and snail up the hill from Abakalili or Afikpo to Ekoli and Ohafia cannot use the Ohafia-Nguzu-Oso Federal Road because of the deplorable state of the road.

I used the Ohafia-Nguzu-Oso Federal Road two weeks ago, and my eyes were opened to the inconveniences drivers and passengers have been unavoidably subjected to using that bumpy and jagged route as an alternative.

The said federal road itself is right now begging for attention. On the Nguzu axis, another earthfall is threatening, not in one area. What's more, gully is about breaking the road into two. Due to lack of forward-looking which has become a tragedy in the Nigeria script, nothing will be done until lives are unnecessarily lost to the impending gully or landslide.

All this stress would have been unnecessary if the federal road was completed before now and the Letu-Ugwufie State Road fixed. The Ohafia-Nguzu-Oso Federal Road and the Letu-Ugwufie State Road plus the Iyere road would have made transportation round Edda clan much more smoother and faster. Some good observers can tell how many lives and vehicles have been lost on that windy, sharp-cornered Iyere hill.

Luckily, in 2012, Senator Sonni Ogbuoji attracted the construction of the Ohafia-Nguzu-Oso Federal Road. Although he attracted the project in his first tenure, work began before his re-election in 2015. From random intel I sought, in May 2019, Babatunde Fashola, the then Minister of Works and Housing, inspected the project, and work stopped after his visit. During the Minister's visit, the Project Engineer did complain to him about the delay in the release of fund for the construction. Probably, nothing was done about it. Then Sonni Ogbuoji was completing his second tenure and was contesting for governorship. Unfortunately, he lost the election and his place in the Senate. Work on the road died permanently.

In my childhood, we referred to the federal road as "19 Corner". The thought I used to have of "19 Corner" was a tortuous journey that would fling you from one dangerous turn against another in quick succession.

I guess the road was truly too dangerous an attempt that drivers and travellers, for many years, had to stick to the Iyere route in spite of the frequent fatal accidents that occurred on that road, throwing many innocent souls onto the lap of untimely death. Okada riders and their passengers were not spared.

The tragic news of death on the hill moved me to do the poem "Iyereoba!" in 2014, a poem that presented the hill as a mother that turned around to drink the blood of her own children https://www.facebook.com/groups/488483431628223/permalink/920012151808680/?app=fbl

Six years later, the attention of the state Governor, HE Engr. Dave Umahi, was drawn to the hill. He made a campaign promise on savaging the death trap and made good his promise by commencing the building of the largest flyover in Ebonyi State on the hill in 2020. Evidently, poetry is a tool of prophecy. A poet paints the situation he yearns for, and the power behind his muse gets to work until the desirable result foreseen by the poet sees the light of day.

Recently, Senator Michael Ama Nnachi, Senator representing Ebonyi South Senatorial Zone, reportedly visited the gully disaster at Ogwuma and made a donation of 2 million Naira to the victims of the landslide. The most recent report is his drawing the attention of the Senate to the affected area, with the Senate directing the National Emergency Management Agency to intervene forthwith.

When NEMA intervenes, the area may be levelled or transformed in a way that a repeat of an earthfall in that area may be impossible. But that will not still solve the problem of bad roads in Edda. If the Senator can use the second tenure he seeks to attract the completion of the Ohafia-Nguzu-Oso Federal Road, Edda will have more road channels to boast of.

I saw sign of work renewed on the Owutu-Oso Road and asked someone who told me that the Senator is the one on it. With Hon. Idu Igariwey on the Letu-Ugwufie Road, and the Chairman of Afikpo South LGA, Dr. Eni Uduma Chima, reportedly doing 3km of the federal road from Owutu to Amigbo through the State Government, soon all these abandoned major roads in Edda will open up again, and transportation within and out of Edda will improve by leaps and bounds.

~Ben Nkama

27/7/2022

Photo Credits: Dick Oko M and Anya Igu Idika

20/03/2022

What Are We Fighting For?

I have not come to do poetry
But my eyes are still on 2023
You want your political ambition to come true
But I have a question to ask you
After 2023 has come and gone
Shall all this hate also be gone?
Shall we still be one?

After 2023 has come and gone,
Shall all this hate also be gone?
Shall we still be one?
When because of APC or PDP
Or your pay master
You insult my mother, beat up my father
And threaten my brother?

After 2023 has come and gone,
Shall all this hate also be gone?
Shall we still be one?
When because of APC or PDP
You come after my life
Or just because my political ideology
Flies in the face of yours?

After 2023 has come and gone,
Shall all this hate also be gone?
Shall we still be one?
When you are sent to burn my shop
Or destroy my house just because your
Choice of candidate is not same as mine?

After 2023 has come and gone,
Shall all this hate also be gone?
Shall we still be one?
When you fabricate lies against me
And say or dig up something that is capable of
Rendering me invalid even long after the election
And probably close good doors against me
Just because you are PDP and I am APC or the other way?

Sometimes I ask myself:
"When we hate, lock brutal horns and pull the trigger
During elections, do we do that for the party we swore allegiance to
Or out of our stubborn resolution to get the power and rewrite the story?"

© Ben Nkama 2022
Watchdog of the Jungle


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12/02/2022

30/01/2022

16/01/2022

02/01/2022

FIXING THE FAULTS 🔧
..it's more like "a table of discussion"
..the focus is EDDA
..it's just a day away
..3rd January, 2022
..11a.m
..come nearer

24/12/2021

10 REASONS YOU NEED TO ATTEND "FIXING THE FAULTS" 🔧

People often wait for their self-interest to be appealed before they take any action. This is because everyone values their time and energy.

Therefore, an invitation to a programme like "Fixing the Faults" may be successful or distressing depending on how the public views it. The inner question is often, "What is in there for me?"

Concerned Edda Youths Movement (CEYM) hosts her second annual meeting on Monday 3rd January, 2022, and it is tagged: FIXING THE FAULTS.

Below are reasons you need to attend the meeting:

1. It is 98% seminar. Thoughts are created and modified primarily by the spoken or written word.

2. It is not an award-giving event or a showbiz.

3. CEYM is politically and religiously independent.

4. This is a meeting of Edda youths who have stood their ground despite ridicules and threats thrown at their vision.

5. The primary concern of the gathering is the change of the attitudes of Edda youths.

6. This is the first consistent meeting of Edda (not village or community) youths where the agenda is general and not clannish.

7. Its key interest is the social and economic security of Edda clan.

8. The facilitators are traditional rulers, custodians of Edda culture and traditions and opinion leaders.

9. It is aimed at correcting "the fault" right from the foundation.

10. Above all, it is redemptive and solution-orientated.

Be there 💪

24/12/2021

EUFA! 🏆

I salute you, EUFA!
You are a legend,
Peace advocate
And crusader of unity.

You have shifted our mindset:
Ekoli, Ogwuma, Okpocha, Libolo, Letu and any other parts of Edda
Can dip their hands together in one bowl
And taste the sweet pudding of brotherhood,
Without violence.

But you are unpredictable:
The winner is not the team with the best coach,
Or the one with the choice jersey,
Or the one with the fastest players,
Or the one with more "poro" players,
Or the one from the village of the sponsor.

By the way, is it a propaganda or truth,
The case they make against you,
That "robbing" is your stake
In favour of your host community?

But what shall we expect this year?
Will you unite us more
Or tear us more apart?
Shall we leave the roof licking
Or stop the rain from weakening the house?

19/12/2021

CONFIRMED SPEAKER (9):

HRH EZEOGO AJA UGBOR
..will be speaking on:

"The Need for Love, Unity, Peace and Security in Edda"

19/12/2021

MY FELLOW YOUTH, BE WISER THIS CHRISTMAS

An average Edda youth is a victim of mediocrity, hindsight and misplaced priority. Most of us started life without any input or support from our parents.

But it is sheer insanity for any Edda person in this category to resign to fate, taking an excuse from the mistakes of his parents or the mental poverty of his family.

Thank God the outcome of our lives partly lies in our hands, in our intentionality. It is high time we began shaking off our bodies the dust of our fathers' and mothers' mistakes.

Some of the decisions you cannot afford to take this end of the year/Christmas break are as follows.

No matter how badly h***y you may feel and how loose you have always been, please don't incur the curse of a family and your community by ra**ng any girl 🙏 (Get a girlfriend; be self-controlled).

At this Christmas, make up your mind that you will not get any girl pregnant at home and deny her or run back to the city, leaving the poor girl to sort it out with her fate.

Make up your mind to go back to that little boy or girl you got out of wedlock and abandoned since then. Start playing your role as the father now, "tomorrow is pregnant."

Don't impregnate a girl if you have no intention to marry her.

Don't get pregnant for any man who has not come to see your people.

Don't give birth to any child if you are not yet ready for marriage.

Don't born a child if you are not yet fit to start a family.

Don't bear more children than you can take care of.

Don't bear a child without saving for its future.

While your child is still in school, arrange for her to learn a vocational skill. Emmanuella, the comedienne, started learning coding and graphics at 7, precisely in Primary 2. At 11, she is invited to teach coding internationally.

I wish every youth would rather see this as a brotherly advice, instead of a slight.

17/12/2021

I HAVE MADE UP MY MIND 💪

It's true I have vowed to waste my life through cultism, I have decided that I am not bringing it down to Edda this Christmas.

I will not be a terror to the old and a thorn on the flesh of the young. I will make sure I don't stage a situation where the village or the old people will heap curses on my head, which I will take along with me back to the city.

Instead, I will leave my 'muscle' and 'power' back in the city and take them up again when I return from the village. I will not raise any dust in my village this year because Edda deserves peace and security.

Although I have decided that I will never leave what is inside the skirt and will never stop sleeping around with any girl that can fall for my crafty trap, I have decided I will remain faithful to my girlfriend/fiancée this Christmas, whether she travels with me or not. All other ravishing girls can pass with their beauty, because my girlfriend/fiancée deserves my respect.

It's true I have many friends from outside Edda, and I love them so much and would like them to visit my village, but I have decided they are not coming to Edda for s*x adventure.

I will never give them the opportunity to boast about their virility with the number of Edda girls they will deceive and sleep with this Christmas.

I will never give them any reason to go back to the city or their villages and boast that Edda girls are very cheap and easy to sleep with. O, no! 🙅‍♀️

I will never arrange for them to entice my little, unsuspecting and naive village sisters to 'spoil' them and go back to their towns and villages, licking their lips and picking their teeth with toothpick in self-satisfaction, because I have respect for my village girls.

Although I have a 'covenant' with men and can never leave what is inside the boxer's, this Christmas will be different. I have resolved I will never again be taken or lured to the field, uncompleted buildings, into the bush or school premises to be defiled or impregnated just for #500 or #1000 or a fake promise of the earth. I have respect for my body and will make sure I am treated with value and honour.

It's true my friends are 'falling' one by one; others have got pregnant already while some others are already nursing their first children at this teenage age of ours, I have vowed to remain different.

Although I am tempted at times to fall, and my body 'is doing me somehow somehow', I will remain firm in my resolution not to be reduced to nothing or my future jeopardized. I will never let any guy defile me this Christmas with his exotic clothes or fake show of affluence because I know where I am going.

Edda is my home; I have no other after her. So I must love her and protect her integrity. I am bound to give her peace and make this land habitable.

May the Almighty God in His infinite mercy uphold me and cause me not to go back on my resolve. Amen.


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