Nigerian Plane crash Survivor is Finalist at America Got talent

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by Chinwuba Iyizoba

  She survived a plane crash, graduated with honors, is an accomplished singer and now a finalist at the American Got Talent show. The inspirational story of Kechi Okwuchi.

She was only 13 when the unthinkable happened. On December 10, 2005, she and 60 of her classmates from Loyola Jesuit College Abuja, where heading home to PortHarcort for the holidays in Sosoliso Airline, Flight 1145.

In an aisle seat next to her close friend, Kechi suddenly felt something was wrong.

“We are going down way too fast,” She said to her friend in alarm.

Her friend didn’t have time to reply before other passengers started screaming. Gripping her friends hand tightly, she cried, “Let us pray.”

But before they could start, there was a loud bang and the next thing she remembered was waking up in Milpark Hospital, South Africa.

The plane, carrying 109 people, slammed into the ground and burst into flames. She was one of only two survivors and spent up to five weeks in coma. Worse, when she woke up, she was unable to recognize herself. 65 percent of her body was covered with hideous scars that turned her beautiful face into a frightful visage.

Throughout the many months she spent in the hospital, undergoing numerous surgeries, she had ample time to pray, seeking to understand why God permitted her to live through this most horrible tragedy.

“There’s truly nothing like prayer,” she said. “It reinforces faith, which gives you courage. It calms you when things get really hard to deal with. If there’s one thing I learned through this experience, it’s the value of faith.”

Though prayers, God restored her determination to survive and even follow her dreams. She enrolled and graduated summa cum laude in 2015 from University of St. Thomas in the United States.

In her graduation speech, Kechi explained that she was motivated by a desire to live for others, to be in some way a consolation to the relatives and friends all who lost loved ones. And that she is striving to make her life a gift to all, especially the bereaved parents of her friends.

“To me, this degree is not just a degree.” she said, “It is a gift to the 60 students that died in a plane crash I was in 10 years ago. It represents the fulfillment of a promise I made—to those students and their parents—that I would reach this important milestone on behalf of those they lost.”

She is currently pursuing her M.B.A and a career in singing; singing being one passion that brings her joy. In 2017, unknown to her, a friend had enlisted her to take part in the twelfth season of America’s Got Talent as a singer. She went on to participate and finished the competition as a finalist.

This year again, she enlisted and when judge Simon Cowell asked, “Why America’s Got Talent?”

 “I want to share my voice,” she replied.

The 27-year-old then went on to share a story of survival, hope, and unshakable faith.

That story and her rendition of Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” brought the audience and judges to their feet and Simon Cowell gave her the golden buzzer, sending her straight to the final social media went wild with excitement.

Those who think life has treated them unfairly and have succumbed to a despondent bitterness should take a cue from this courageous young woman and pick themselves up from the floor where life has flung them, begin again, find some God given talents which perhaps they have let die and share with others, just like Kechi is sharing her voice with the world.

Yet, it must be hard to have a face that looks so hideous, and Kechi must weep daily for her lost beauty even as many social media platforms, mainstream media, and Hollywood, push so much false narratives that exalt sex appeal as vital to women’s success, and many young women cave in to the pressure, starving and cutting their bodies to look like the paint brushed supermodels they see on the cover of glossy magazines.

Kechi’s story calls out to the young. Interior beauty endures long after bodily beauty is gone.  Diligence and courage in the face of difficulties, acceptance of the trial that come our way are the true goods.

As supermodel, Cameron Russell said, Looks aren’t everything. And anyone who says different is lying.

Today, Kechi Okwuchi is also a public speaker who gives talks on TEDxEuston, witnessing to the public what God has done for her, for in the midst of her suffering, she had found Jesus, she had found joy.

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An African Gift to a Danish Woman

By Chinwuba Iyizoba
Danish woman social worker who fed and gave new life to a Nigerian child left for dead by his family because they thought he was a witch is herself rewarded with a new life.
In 2016, a Danish woman, Anja Ringgren Lovena, a social worker, found a toddler, emaciated and riddled with worms wandering the streets of Akwa-Ibom, he was naked and fending for himself.



She bent down and gently fed the boy and gave him some water, later she wrapped him in a blanket and with the help of her team took him to a hospital where he was given medications to remove the worms from his stomach and given daily blood transfusions till he was stable enough. She then took him home, washed, cleaned, fed, clothed him and called him Hope.
Pictures she shared of her feeding the starving boy broke the internet and the hearts of many the world over; and she received more than a million dollars in donations. A few months later she posted pictures of the fully recovered boy looking healthy and robust. Again, the pictures went viral and she became a celebrity, but more important, her life was changed forever.

The boy Hope had brought hope back into her own life.
"I have been looking to find meaning in my life," said Anja, who grew up in a loving home, where her Mom worked with elderly people and thought her how to care and love other people. Her mom often told her stories of African children starving, and as a young woman she became very fascinated with Africa.
At 23, her mother’s death from cancer shattered her life. Distraught, she began looking to find meaning in her life, and decided to come to Africa.
 She founded an organization for children in 2012 in Malawi but opted for Nigeria when she stumbled across online articles about children killed after being accused of witch craft in Nigeria.
“When I found out that so many innocent children in the Niger Delta Region were tortured and killed due to superstition and the belief in witchcraft, I was in total shock,” said Anja, “it really made me so sick to my bones. How could anyone do this to children?”
From then on nothing could stop her from coming to Nigeria. Children needed help
 In Nigeria, in 2013, she met and fell in love with David Umen, a social worker and a law student; together they formed a team and built a children center.
She and David had been on many rescue missions, in obscurity, unclaimed until that fateful morning of 30th January 2016, when she found Hope, a most precious gift clothed in distressing disguise. Hope made her famous.
Now she has 100,000 followers on instagram, more than 150,000 Facebook followers, and millions across the globe who, admiring her generous heart, wish to be better.



On that January morning when she first looked into Hope’s frightfully hungry eyes, she saw with crystal clarity, what many Danish people  or Americans or European can’t see, and therefore can't understand or even imagine exists.
She grasped that unless she helped them see what she was seeing with her eyes, through the lens of her camera, many will continue drifting aimlessly, chasing shadows and fleeting pleasures, unaware of that inner call to dedicate themselves to something greater than them.

Her pictures shattered the comfortable selfish lives of millions, and raised consciences long dead; and as she extended her hands to feed that little starving child, many satiated stomachs whose hands never extended to feed any other but themselves quivered uneasily knowing they could be better, they could contribute something, they could share some of their bread with those who have naught.
“When she saw the starving child, she acted like a human being and became an inspiration for millions,” says the editor of German-language Ooom Magazine that listed Anja as the most influential person of the year 2016.
 “Her sustained efforts to help the abandoned children of Nigeria gives us hope and encourages us to follow suit.”
Africa has given Anja a gift, a return to humanity now lost to many of her folks bent on killing their children through abortions. Abortion is fully legal in Denmark, done on-demand up to twelfth week. A super rich country like the United States killed more than 45 million children via abortion since the 70’s, and just this week, New York legalized abortions until birth for any reason whatsoever!
Africans are ignorant, backward and poor; no doubt and in their ignorance, kill children. Yet, they are excusable precisely because they are poor, ignorant and backward.
More shocking and inexcusable are the acts of nations and peoples, highly educated, highly progressive, and super rich who kill unborn children as a right and a privilege. According to Mother Theresa of Calcutta, “Any country that accepts abortion is the poorest of the poor.”
"Many people are concerned with children of India, with the children of Africa,” continues Mother Theresa.  “These concerns are very good. But often these same people are not concerned with the millions being killed by the deliberate decision of their own mothers. And this is the greatest destroyer of peace today- abortion which brings people to such blindness."
Unlike African blindness, easy to cure with education and bread, European blindness is complicated and requires a complete surgery to right their crocked world view filled with anti-human ideologies of trans-genderism, of homosexuality and atheistic anti-life policies.
Africa has given Anja a home to welcome as many witch-children as her heart desires; Africa has also given her a gift of love in return: Emmanuel, her handsome husband, has filled her heart with joy of life and a gift of her own very son whom she cherishes more than life itself.




By extension, Anja’s action encourages all Nigerians to rise and uproot this evil superstition killing children and do more to help others; there is a joy that the world cannot give that comes from helping others, and as the end of life approaches, perhaps those acts of charity are the only things that will endure; for it is simply true that when we help others, we become better.

Billion Dollar Couple Divorce: What about the Children?

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Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos

The 55yrs old billionaire and owner of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, is divorcing his wife of 25yrs and mother of his 3 sons and an adopted daughter from China.

He is now in a relationship with a twice divorced woman and mother of 3, 49yrs old Lauren Sanchez, whom he met through her husband. Sanchez herself is ditching her husband of many years for Jeff and his billions.

Middle, Lauran Sanchez with Jeff Bezos to her left and her husband Patrick to her right

Social media is abuzz and experts are speculating breathlessly about how the billions will be split (137billion), and who gets what. Tabloids are spewing steamy headlines to make the most from the sordid affair. Yet, they skip the hard questions: what about the children?

Studies show that children are significantly affected by the parents’ divorce. The upheaval in their lives a serious and demands they be protected by the state.

Adult children of divorce are more likely than children raised in intact families to be fearful of intimacy, according to Judith Wallerstein. They are especially fearful of commitment, often remaining on the brink of marriage in cohabitation arrangements. Their thinking: “I don’t want to happen to me what happened to my parents.” If they do marry, they tend to fear and avoid having children. Their thinking: “I wouldn’t want to inflict on my kids what my parents inflicted on me.”

Most of them never saw their parents’ divorce coming. They remember that, as children, when they were enjoying themselves, their parents one day called them together and said, “We have something to tell you…” Now, as adults, when they are supposed to be enjoying themselves, they are waiting anxiously for the other shoe to drop.

By every measure of flourishing known to social science, children of divorce do noticeably poorer than children raised in intact families: higher incidence of school drop-out, drug use, sexual acting out and teen pregnancy, need for the mental health profession and for anti-depressants.

The Bezos Family

In a better world, the outcry and condemnation of this brazen disregard for the children’s welfare would have carried across the globe. As always the Catholic Church remains the sole voice of sanity in a deranged world, proclaiming boldly that divorce is immoral…because it introduces disorder into the family and into society. This disorder brings grave harm to the deserted spouse, to children traumatized by the separation of their parents and often torn between them, and because of its contagious effect which makes it truly a plague on society (CCC 2385).

One you-tuber commented, “Marriage is for suckers cucks and simps” and another wrote, “I’m not getting married until this freakshow stops!” While many scoff at women, calling them names like, witch, suckers and the likes. It is clear confirmation of the damage divorce does to the fabric of society and the psych of the youths.

In a world gone insane walking the cliff edge, marital vows are not worth the paper they are written on; promises are no longer meant to be kept; dishonor is honorable; serial polygamy is fashion. Truly, the words from W.B Yeats’ poem, the ‘Second Coming’ are prophetic for our world today, ‘Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold’. A sad prophesy of the future of our world, cut adrift from sense and reason, drifting aimlessly in uncharted waters of moral and marital relativism. Yet many call it progress.

But as St Josemaria, the founder of Opus Dei said, “I want you to think about how evil has prospered. All over this field of God, which is the world – Christ’s inheritance – there are weeds. Not just a few weeds: vast quantities of them! I want you to be aware of this, so that you may never be deceived by the myth of constant, irreversible progress. Understand what I mean: progress, when it is properly directed, is good, and God wants it. However, there is a kind of progress that blinds all sorts of people, who fail to see that in some areas mankind sometimes goes backwards and loses ground previously gained

Chinwuba Iyizoba

The Unhappy Millionaire: Richard Mason

Richard Mason the unhappy millionaire

Those who don’t believe that money doesn’t make you happy often hiss, “Let me have it and find out for myself,” when told about it. Perhaps this story of a man who had millions but lost health and family will convince the most virulent skeptic that there are things much more important than money. According to the dailymail.co.uk, Richard Mason, a multimillionaire and the founder of money market, a multi-million dollar company went for a medical check to discover the cause of his recurring ill health. He didn’t bargain for what he got. The doctor told him he had cystic fibrosis, a disease inherited from birth, and incurable. But worse, he told him that people who suffer from this ailment do not have children.

The millionaire shot back: ‘You must have got the diagnosis wrong because I’ve got three sons.’

The doctor looked at the nurse, as if to say, “How do we deal with this?” and turning to him said, “In this hospital, we manage 2000 men with your condition and none has children -well except for one who later discovered that his wife cheated on him.”

The doctors then advised Richard to speak with his wife.

Anxious and heart thumping, Richard texted Kate, his ex-wife and mother of his 3 sons, aged 23, 19 and 18. They had divorced 10 yrs earlier and though he had remarried, at 54, he hadn’t bothered to have any more children.

“Hi Kate, I have just  been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, and can you believe, the doctor says that I am infertile from birth, please put me out of my misery and tell me they are wrong and our boys are my children.”

The reply wasn’t long in coming

“Hi Richard, I’m deeply sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but no matter what they say, the boys are your children.”

Still, suspicious Richard confided in his first son who called his Mom and she confessed to having affairs throughout her marriage, in hotels whenever she was on overnight business trips for the bank where she worked. She however flat out refused to name the father of the child.

Kate, Richard’s ex-wife admitted to adulterous affairs thought out her marriage to Richard but refuses to name the man

Left with a tons of money in his bank, bereft of everything worthwhile in life, family, his children and worst, the knowledge of having lived 21 yrs in a marriage that was a fraud. Richard recently admitted he had frequent thoughts of suicide. Life had lost all meaning.

The adulterous wife must have been desperate for children and sensing her husband’s shortcomings decided to try elsewhere. Richard may have been a negligent husband, hard as flint, an old miser who loves money above all. Furthermore, Richard divorced his adulterous wife even before he knew her to be one, love for his children notwithstanding.

Whatever be the case, we may be sure that in all the articles written about this disappointing union, no one talked about the couple’s relationship with God. I strongly suspect that, like in most western marriages, God didn’t play a very big role in this family. And I believe that vertical relationships helps horizontal relationship as many spiritual writers often contend. Vertical relationship with God helps our horizontal relationship with one another. And without the fear of God, man becomes squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old savage, secret and self contained, incapable of giving himself to another in sacrificial love. Hence the appalling divorce statics of western marriages, (about 50% percent of married couples in the United States divorce. The divorce rate for subsequent marriages is even higher, Luxembourg: 87%, Spain: 65%). I think this due to their hurling God out of their marriages, feet first.

The story is long, complicated, and heart breaking and gets quite out of breath by the time it gets to the murky fights over alimony and Richard’s desperate efforts to discover the identity of the man who slept with his wife for in this unfortunate marriage betrayal runs deep ( you can read the full article here). I will cut all that and by a short route bring us to my take: common necessaries and common comforts of life satisfied, money does not necessarily make us happier.

Chinwuba Iyizoba

This Baby is From God says a Mother Who Conceived in Rape

People believe that God’s love should shield from evil and injustice. That is understandable, but sometimes God allows evil, to test our love for him and so that a greater good may come.

This is far and away the most awesome article I have read for a while about human greatness and capacity to forgive. Do yourself a favor and read the whole article and watch the whole video, it is worth 20 mins of your time.
According to spuc.org.uk, a mother who became pregnant after being violently raped has said that her son is a gift from God. Speaking at a pro-life rally on Sunday, Jennifer Christie recounted how, while working away from home, she was violently assaulted on the way back to her hotel room. The attack left her with broken fingers and ribs, and the internal injuries were so severe she needed six major surgeries. She also suffered a bleed on the brain – which means she now has epilepsy. Six weeks later, she found out she was pregnant.

Jennifer had been living in an “unrecognizable world” of “darkness and pain”, but when she saw the baby’s heartbeat on the ultrasound, “for the first time since I had been raped, I felt that life inside me again…that little flicker on the screen was to me hope and joy and light.”

Her husband Jeff was immediately supportive of her need to give birth to the baby, telling her: “this is a gift. This baby is something beautiful out of something so terrible and so painful.”

The Christies’ testimony challenged the assumptions usually made about women who conceive babies through rape. Jennifer said: “People will tell you that a raped woman who conceives will feel rage and anger and disgust towards her baby, and I’ve spoken to hundreds and hundreds of women, and that is just not true.” When Jeff is asked how he can bring up a “rapist’s baby” as is own, he says: “My answer is, I don’t know what it’s like to raise a rapist’s child. Because I’m raising our child, and he’s been our child from the beginning.”

One of the main reasons people advise abortion for women in this awful situation is that the baby will be a reminder of the attack, and of the rapist. However, Jennifer says that no woman who has been raped is going to forget it, whether she has the baby or not. “When people ask me if he is a reminder, I tell them honestly…he is a reminder that good can come from evil, every time. He is a reminder that love is always stronger than hate. He is a reminder that love wins. He is a reminder that who we become as human beings is not determined by how we start.”

“We loved you louder.”
She said that when her son is older, they will tell him that he brought healing to the family. “We’re going to tell him that there were all these people screaming at us that you should not be here, that you are a child from rape, that you do not deserve to be here. And those voices were loud, but we loved you louder.”

Speaking to press, Jennifer said that she was not there to judge women, but to tell those who suffer in the same way she did that “the path to healing and wholeness is not found through more violence and trauma.”

The large crowd gathered outside Parliament to hear the Christies included former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi. Life Network Foundation chairperson Miriam Sciberas said that the March was an ideal opportunity to let politicians know that society wanted to protect the life of the unborn, and that life started from conception. The powerful testimony of Jennifer and Jeff Christie is sure to inspire pro-lifers in Malta and across the world.

Jennifer and her husband passed God’s test with flying colors, perfect in their response of self surrender and totally accepting the child from this great evil they have gained immense holiness in God’s sight and their blessings will be as uncountable as sands of the sea shore.

If you like this article please follow and subscribe to spuc.org.uk and consider supporting them with your donation. Thanks.

Chinwuba Iyizoba

Grandpa Paid to Abort Pretty Girl: Brooke Shields

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In a world gone mad, it’s not uncommon for parents to pay for their children to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. The recent revelation by superstar, Brooke Shields that her grandfather paid her mom to terminate her is insane.

According to Life news.com, Shields writes in her book that, when her mother became pregnant, her boyfriend did not appear ready to assume the role of father. He told his own Dad, who in turn, decided to convince her mother to “terminate the pregnancy.” Her grandfather explained to her mother how an out-of-wedlock birth could jeopardize her father’s standing on the “Social Registry.” Her granddad even went so far as to give her mother money for the abortion (This was pre-Roe v. Wade).
Instead of visiting an abortionist, her mother went to an antique store and used the money to buy a coffee table.

Shields remarks that the table ironically became a favorite of hers, which she used to pull herself up from the floor as a toddler.

She writes, “The table saved my life and helped me to stand.”

It is hard to imagine the pop culture landscape without Brooke Shields. To think someone of such beauty and grace could have had her life ended before birth is so mind-boggling. Shields is a mother herself, so an entire family could easily have been swept away if her mother had chosen to cave into pressure and abort.

How many stars have been lost to abortion? You might think it’s impossible to count, but actually the number is more than 56 million. For every child who is aborted is a star in God’s galaxy—every single life has value and dignity.

We now just have one more beautiful face to remember as we contemplate the thin line between life and death in our world today.

To every, parent or grandparent who has a granddaughter pregnant out of wedlock or a son who has got some girl pregnant out of wedlock: that, pregnancy… that child may be the greatest blessing and support in your old age. Help her keep it and find out.

Man Accused of Assault by Ex-girlfriend Saved by a Selfie!

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Bearing false witness against a neighbor is expressly condemned by Holy writ because of the grave consequences and injury to a good name. The saga that happened in Texas last week confirms the wisdom of Holy book in condemning this sin, and brings out in a graphic way the terrible consequences of calumny.

According to the Washington post, when 21-year-old Christopher Precopia met with a recruiter to enlist in the U.S. Army in October, he was rejected because of the violent offense for which he had been charged last year.

Precopia, of Williamson County, Tex., was arrested Sept. 22, 2017, after his ex-girlfriend told police that he’d broken into her home and assaulted her — using a box cutter to carve an “X” just below her neck, Texas ABC affiliate KVUE reported.

Except there was one problem: Precopia didn’t do it.

In oral and written statements to police, his accuser detailed how Precopia had forced his way into her home, pushing her to the ground before punching her in the face and slicing her with the box cutter.

That was news to Precopia.

He was given minimal information when police took him into custody, according to defense attorney Rick Flores.

When Precopia asked police why he was being arrested, Flores says police told his client, “Don’t act like you don’t know.”

And when police said they had a warrant for his arrest in Bell County, Flores said Precopia’s response was: “Where is Bell County?”

He was charged with burglary of a habitation with the intent to commit other crimes, a felony offense that carries the possibility of a life sentence.

“I had no idea who accused me of this; I had no idea why everything was happening,” Precopia told KVUE. “I was constantly fearful as to what could happen the next day . . . I was going to sleep hoping I wouldn’t wake up, just to get away from it.”

After he spent more than a day in jail, Precopia’s parents took out loans to post his $150,000 bond and pay for a lawyer in an effort to prove their son was innocent, Flores said.

As Precopia’s family worked to clear his name, his mother, Erin, realized she possessed a piece of evidence that could exonerate him: a selfie taken at 7:02 p.m. on Sept. 20, 2017, at the Renaissance Austin Hotel.

His accuser had told police that she was attacked by Precopia at 7:20 p.m. that same day in her Bell County home, nearly 70 miles away in Temple. Cellphone towers also helped pinpoint Precopia’s actual location, Flores said.

“He was very fortunate that she chose a date and time that he just happened to have a rock-solid alibi for,” Flores said. “He and I have talked many times about how lucky he is, whether you believe in a higher power or good old-fashioned luck.”

If his accuser had claimed that the attack had taken place the day before or after, Flores said, his client’s only excuse would have been that he was sitting at home watching TV — a much less convincing alibi.

The charge was dropped on June 21 after Flores took the evidence to the Bell County District Attorney’s Office, he said.

“We were able to corroborate the basis of what was presented to us, and in due course, we determined the proper action was to dismiss the charge, and that’s what we proceeded to do,” Bell County District Attorney Henry Garza said in an interview Thursday.

Garza added that the Bell County Attorney’s Office will ultimately determine if charges will be made against Precopia’s accuser for making a false statement. KVUE reported Tuesday that Precopia’s accuser has not been charged with a crime.

The Temple Police Department did not return a call Thursday afternoon requesting comment on the case.

Up until the charge was dropped, Flores said Precopia and his family were terrified for his future. While they are not planning any civil action against the police department, Flores said the family is exploring lawsuit against his accuser.

His accuser told police that the two had a “troubled” relationship in high school, which she cited as the reason she reported that Precopia assaulted her, according to KVUE. Flores said he had not spoken with the accuser and could not comment on this allegation.

“His entire family had trouble sleeping at night, wondering what was going to happen, if anyone would believe them, if there would be a trial, prison time or a life sentence,” Flores said, adding he doesn’t blame police for taking action on the accuser’s allegations.

“We’re more upset with this person that blatantly made up a lie and got him in this mess to begin with,” he said.

Even though Precopia’s name was cleared, he and his family now wonder how the accusation will impact him moving forward.

“While [his family] is happy it ended up with a dismissal, and that it will be expunged from his record, the damage is kind of done,” Flores said. “Nothing will ever be completely scrubbed from the Internet.”

Flores pointed to Precopia’s encounter with the Army recruiter as “a small example of how this will follow him around forever.”

He added that Precopia’s application to enlist is “currently being reviewed by someone higher up at the U.S. Army.”

This young man’s life was about to go south but for the hands of God or luck if you like. Yet many people aren’t that lucky and have had their good names irretrievably damaged by false accusations. So when next you hear someone bad-mouthing another without any evidence, please do not hesitate to shun that person and teach him that bearing false witness harms others.