Introduction “Ebela m akwa ụwa” meaning I have cried about my world is more than a song. It is a lament, a confession, a spiritual mirror held up to the human condition. When the Oriental Brothers released this highlife classic, they were not merely entertaining; they were interpreting life. They were naming the ache of existence, the fragility of fortune, and the inevitability of accountability before God. The song’s central metaphor, the world as a marketplace is one of the oldest in Igbo cosmology. Life is a temporary market trip; no matter how long you stay, you must eventually pack your wares and return home. And when you do, you stand before the One who sent you. In today’s Nigeria, this metaphor feels painfully relevant. The poor cry about their world because their world has become unbearably heavy. Political instability, economic hardship, social fragmentation, and religious manipulation have turned daily survival into a spiritual trial. This essay draws from the song’...
Introduction The word viaticum carries a double resonance: one literary, one theological. In Birago Diop’s poem Viaticum , a mother prepares her child for the journey into life. She marks the child with ritual gestures, invokes the breath of the ancestors, and sends them forth with the assurance that they are not alone. It is a poetic initiation, a covenant of protection. … With her three fingers red with blood, with dog’s blood, with bull’s blood, with goat’s blood, Mother touched me three times…. Then Mother said, ‘Go into the world, go! They will follow your steps in life.’… In Catholic tradition, viaticum refers to the final sacrament given to the dying, “food for the journey.” It is the Church’s way of saying: You will not walk this last road alone. We will accompany you with prayers, Holy Communion, tenderness and dignity. Both meanings converge on a profound truth: A community that cares prepares its people for the journey: whether into life or out of it. ...