The Nation Newspaper

Tag: sick

  • Nigerians told to care for the sick

    A non-Governmental organisation, Blessed Hands Ministry (BHM), has urged Nigerians to show concern for the sick.

    Its President, Elfreda Akintewe, who spoke when the organisation visited the Children’s Ward C and D at the National Orthopaedic Hospital in Igbobi, Lagos, said the sick should not be forgotten.

    According to her, the government and well-meaning people in the society should play their roles to help poor patients, especially children.

    “I feel this is what God wants people to be doing. If He blesses you, then you should be a blessing to others. We are doing this in the spirit of Christmas and the season, which symbolises giving,” she said.

    Mrs Akintewe enjoined doctors and nurses to continue to support the children so that they caan recover quickly.

    She described them as the future, saying they deserve care and support.

    Mrs Akintewe said times are hard, adding that it takes people with a good heart to want to help the needy.

    She said her organisation has been lending a hand to the indigent since 2011 in villages but opted to visit the hospital instead to put smiles on the children’s faces.

    “We do not expect any recognition but heavenly reward,” she added.

    The team prayed for the sick quick recovery and presented gifts to them.

  • Free tests, drugs for the sick

    Free tests, drugs for the sick

    More than 350 residents of Ago-Egun community in Ilaje, Bariga Local Government Area of Lagos State have benefitted from the free health mission of the council’s immediate past Supervisory Councilor for Health, Hon. Babatunde Osinbajo.

    The beneficiaries, especially children and adults, underwent tests on hypertension, diabetes and blood pressure, among others. They also got free drugs.

    Osinbajo, a younger brother to the vice presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, also donated a water borehole to the community.

    Hon. Osinbajo, who was there to monitor the exercise, told The Nation: “We started these projects early in 2013 out of my deep passion for the welfare of the less-privileged. I can’t stand seeing people suffer around me. I derive fulfilment in putting smiles on the faces of the have-nots. It is a rare spirit that runs in our family.

    “I’m from Ward ‘E’. I have taken my time to traverse every nook and cranny of the entire council area and have found out what the challenges of majority of our people are. I, therefore, felt the bounden burden to do the best I could to lessen their sufferings within the ambit of my God-given enablement. It is a divine calling that must be shared by the privileged few among us across the country to make Nigeria better.”

    Asked if he had any political ambition, the philanthropist replied: “I nurse no political ambition. What I have done for my people so far and what I will still do by God’s grace, are being activated by divine instruction. You don’t need to expect something back from the people before lifting them from the claws of deprivations. After all, what did Jesus Christ demand for all He did for us? So, it is about our attitude to life and how much we care for our fellowmen.”

    He said he had plans to use his non-governmental charity organisation to do more for the people in other areas.

    A beneficiary, Mrs Esther Ukpodeyi, praised saying, she had long grappled with diabetes without the financial wherewithal to tackle it. “May he (Osinbajo) never suffer any ailment,” she prayed.

    Another resident, who preferred anonymity, said: “I know one thing about the Osinbajos – they have the spirit of giving. The family has a school at Obanikoro, where tuition is free.”

  • Foundation gives succour to the sick

    Foundation gives succour to the sick

    Irked by the inability of 17 indigent patients who received medical treatment at the Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki (FETHA), Ebonyi State, the Divine Care Global Community Initiative (DCGCI), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has paid their hospital bills of over N483, 000.

    The patients, who had stayed in the hospitals for between two and six months after their cure and subsequent discharge due to lack of money to offset their medical bills, resigned to fate before the NGO came to their aid and brought succour to them.

    Many of the patients who came from various parts of the state as well as Cross River State were in the plastic surgery and orthopedic wards of the hospital.

    They were treated of various ailments and were given between N30, 000 and N100,000 bills. But due to lack of money, they were hanging around the hospital waiting for money to clear their bills before they could go home.

    The NGO, through the management of FETHA, cleared their hospital bills totaling over N.960 million as the hospital gave them 50 per cent rebate. The gesture enabled the NGO to go home.

    While handing over the cheque of over N483, 000 to the Chief Medical Director of FETHA Dr. Paul Ezeonu, the National Coordinator of the NGO, Deacon Dandi Odii praised the hospital management for slashing the hospital bills by 50 per cent.

    He said the programme started nine years ago when he went to pray for the sick at the hospital. Then he realised that some of the patients were discharged from the hospital but could not afford to pay for their hospital bills. Their situation touched him and he began to think of how to get them out of the hospital. That, he said, brought the idea of the NGO.

    Odii said he decided to do charity work to serve humanity through the NGO.

    “With the support of friends as well as the foundation’s major financer, Mr. Ken Ojiri of Ken Ojiri Foundation, the programme had been sustained since last year,” he said.

    The Coordinator also revealed that 25 indigent patients were discharged through the NGO last year, adding that they were released in Federal Teaching Hospitals Abakaliki and Federal Medical Centre Owerri. One of the patients was delivered of a triplet.

    The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Sunday Nwangele praised the vision and humanitarian service rendered to the indigent patients by the NGO, even as he urged other individuals and organisations to emulate the gesture.

    Represented by the Director of Public Health, Dr. Chris Archi, Dr Nwangele said it was good to give than to receive, adding that God loves a cheerful giver.

    He stressed that the NGO, over the years, has been giving succour to poor patients, praying God to reward their services.

    He said: “Charity work is not only for the politicians but for everybody in the society. This is because the measure you give is the measure you will be given or receive. The best thing we can do for ourselves is to help others while we are alive because we don’t know who will enjoy our wealth after death.”

    While receiving the cheque for the payment of the hospital bills for the indigent patients, Dr. Ezeonu praised the NGO for its gesture, saying that it had set a pace for others to follow.

    “I hope other NGOs and politicians would emulate the gesture by setting up centres which could give succour to the poor in the society and which would be named after them. This is the only way they can give back to the society what they received or benefited from it. I know the plight of some patients in the hospital. Some of them can not pay their bills no matter how  little due to poverty,” he said.

    Ezeonu further urged Christian associations to emulate what the NGO did by paying off bills of poor people in the hospitals. He noted that when he saw the need to help the poor in the hospital, he slashes their bills by 50 per cent.

    The patients expressed their gratitude to the NGO for paying their hospitals bills. They prayed God to grant those behind the NGO their heart desires.

    Seventy-year-old woman, Mrs. Grace Aloh from Ohaozara Local Government Area who had been in the hospital for three months after her discharge, described the intervention of the NGO as a saving grace because no help was coming from anywhere. She was full of joy and happiness, even as she sang praises to God in appreciation of what God has done for her through the NGO.

    Another patient, a10-year-old Joel Nwuzor from Izzi Local Government Area was abandoned in the hospital by his parents for six months.

    According to the management of the hospital, the boy was brought to the hospital by his mother who later abandoned him for about six months.

    Others such as Josephine Odey, Theresa Ogar and Philomena Njap all from Cross River State thanked the NGO for coming to their rescue.

    They came to the hospital because of one aliment or the other but being treated, there was no money to settle their bills. They, therefore, remained in the hospital for between two and five months before the intervention of the NGO.

    Also Moses Ude from Izzi Local Government Area was billed N38, 000, Monday Nweke from Ikwo was billed N70, 000, Uchechukwu Ofoke from Izzi was billed N45, 000, Steven Ogodo from Ikwo was billed N91, 000, Bernard Nworie was billed N99, 000 and John Unoke was billed N41, 000. Their medical bills were paid by the NGO.

    They prayed God to guide and protect the members of the NGO and as well reward them

  • Only a sick man will hit a woman —Lami

    Only a sick man will hit a woman —Lami

    You won’t be too far from the truth if you say she’s blessed and lucky. Barely two years on the Nigerian music scene, the brand Lami, is fast penetrating into the hearts of music lovers. Popular among her works are Know featuring MI, and Ori Mi Wu featuring Ice Prince. With an impressive debut album, Intuition, the neo-soul singer and song writer is already planning to release her sophomore come 2013. In this interview with MERCY MICHAEL, the UN and Oxfam Ambassador recalls her experience in the journey of creating the brand Lami. She also talks about love and Christmas.

     

    OBVIOUSLY, you are a very busy person. How do you manage to combine work with music?

    Right now I’m helping my family out with some stuff. I guess I just have a good team. I have a good team of people around me, so it makes my life a lot easier. And then we try to prioritise, and we pray. We pray a lot. God is the centre of everything we are doing. So it helps and eases the stress.

    It seems you prefer live performances to commercial music. Is it deliberate and why?

    It is deliberate. And the way I feel about it is that, with the type of music that I do, I feel like I will be cheating my fans or my audience doing what they have already heard on the CD. And maybe because I didn’t grow up in Nigeria, all the shows and concerts I paid for were live. Even if they did contemporary music or they did pop music or rap, it was always live.

    Maybe not with a live band, but they tried as much as possible to make it a different experience. So I feel like, if you are coming to watch Lami, it should be an experience for you and not just, ‘yeah, nice song.’ I try as much as possible to flip the script on a lot of the songs, re-arrange it and make it interesting for myself. A lot of times, when you’re pushing a single, you are performing the same song in different places, you get bored. So you need to make it interesting for yourself. So you need to ginger yourself up just a little.

    But how do you become popular if you don’t do commercial songs?

    I think that’s with every country. And that’s why it’s called pop music, which is just a short term for popular. Things like that, if you look at Rihana, and you compare Rihana to Adele, you’ll see that they are two different plans and that’s why people are really pushing Adele. They are very excited that there is something different that you can hear. And that’s why Nigerians were so excited when Asa appeared on the scene. So you will find that nine out of ten, it is popular music that tends to be popular. But I’m the odd person in that ten. I’m number ten.

    People like me; I’m just blessed to have people support what I do. And back to the live music, truth of the matter is when I’m on stage and I hear live instrument, it just makes me excited. It makes me want to push harder. It’s just how I am. It’s not a deterrent or criticism on other people or how they perform.

    What were you doing before you came into music? And how did music start for you?

    I was studying. I think if we say professional music, it probably started eight years ago. But I started singing in front of people when I was eight. I started writing when I was ten. And I thought it was a joke. But my siblings always remind me about stuffs I did when I was younger, and how I said I was going to send music to Walt Disney himself, and how I was going to write for Disney.

    So somewhere in me, I think it was always there. And obviously when I started college, a lot of people, my music teacher, my chapel teacher, everybody kept saying, Lami you are going to be on MTV one day. You are going to be on MTV you know. And somehow, we just moved from there. And when I decided that this is something I actually love, I started taking vocal lessons, adlibbing lessons, learning how to do back-in-vocals, on my own track, working with different producers from different backgrounds. So for all my tracks, I’m doing my back-in-vocals. So all those little things, little steps have helped me to be where I am.

    For your debut album Intuition, I think Nigerians didn’t get to feel the brand. However, for your sophomore, billed to drop in 2013, I hope you will give us one or two danceable tracks?

    Yes. Let me say this for the debut album, Intuition, I was blessed to be surrounded by people who were already established. People like elDee, MI, Sound Sultan and Banky W. They were people who were around me and helping me to find my feet in Nigeria. So, in a sense that I keep saying that album was skeptofriendic because there are different personalities on that album. There were some danceable tracks, but clearly, we pushed the ones that were more clearly Lami-kind of music. But for this one, you are going to have danceable tracks, I promise. However, the thrust of the music and the lyrics will still be very me. So you are not going to hear- take your clothes off all my sexy ladies in the building.

    Luckily for me, the second song, Titilailai, is a very funk-soul. It’s danceable and very groovy. It’s not Azonto, but it is funk-soul. A lot of people have said it’s danceable. It’s quite interesting to grove to. At the end of the day, what I keep telling people is that you cannot sell what you don’t have. And I am not a pop artiste. I don’t want to be a pop artiste. I love the people who are doing what they do.

    If I go out with my friends and we are listening to pop music, fantastic! Right now, I’m feeling K9’s Kokoma. That’s the song that I’m feeling. It’s easy for me to get into that. Just like Omawunmi doesn’t do pop music, but does stuff that you still want to dance to. You just have to identify who you are and make that work for you.

    What does Christmas mean to you, and what are your plans for the yuletide?

    Christmas for me is family. It’s my parents wedding anniversary on Christmas Day. It has always been the tradition for us to be together, eat and eat and laugh. So I look forward to taking time off, even though Christmas is like the busiest month for us artistes. At the same time, Christmas Day and the Christmas season is about family and love.

    You are an Oxfam Ambassador, alongside Tuface and Sound Sultan. What does it mean to be an Oxfam Ambassador and what are the challenges?

    Okay, I would say this. I am a UN Envoy and Ambassador. And what the UN Envoy position basically means is that you have almost an official role. They entrust certain projects or initiatives with you. And one of the initiatives that I came across in the process last year was the Art for Africa Project, a project under the Oxfam Charity.

    Now Oxfam is an international body. They are big. So when they said they wanted to work with Lami, I was like hey! With Tuface and Sound Sultan, I was like little me? First and foremost, I was totally humbled by the UN Ambassadorship and the Oxfam Ambassadorship, as well as working with Tuface and Sound Sultan. It’s really funny because they are two totally different people and they are crazy. But we’ve been working on a project for ending famine in Africa. There was a famine in East Africa that killed too many children and women. And what we are trying to do is enlighten other African countries, or even Nigeria, about the need to re-strategise agriculture in different countries.

    We need to move away from processed foods and make sure that people are growing tomatoes, carrots and things like that in their homes, to make sure the people are not hungry. If we do not do that, if the government doesn’t pay attention to that, in the next five years, God forbid, we are going to have the same situation as we have in East Africa. So that is basically what we are doing. We are drawing awareness to that issue. So that is it. Anytime you see anybody becoming a UN Ambassador, people tend to wonder how. I’m privileged to be a UN Envoy, not just an Ambassador. It’s really a pretty big deal for me. It’s a big accolade and I’m quite humbled.

    Being a female artiste in Nigeria, what are some of the challenges you face?

    That’s like a completely different story. You need to talk to me for like a whole day. We have to cross so many more hurdles than the men do. We have to spend much more money because, guess what, I gat to do my hair, I gat to do make-up, what else do I have to do? And a guy can just wear his pair of jeans and T-shirt, and go for high-class event. But for us, it’s a tall order in terms of your branding.

    And in terms of just finding your space in the industry, you will find that most of the time, when you are listening to the radio, they say, ‘it’s so, so, and so show. Billed to perform are MI, elDee, Banky W’. It’s the same people and it’s always guys. But you know, I’m quite proud that we have some pop female artistes coming up. Tiwa is doing a fantastic job; Storm Records is doing a good job with Sasha. She’s a great person also. We have Omawunmi, Waje.

    Right now, I think the women are kind of gaining ground. I think we are gaining ground. The other day, Omawunmi updated her BB on how she was in Durban and how she sang in front of a lot of people. I can’t remember what was happening, but I was proud. You know what I mean; it’s really nice for me to see females doing big things. Tiwa Savage is on the cover. She’s on the trailers with Pepsi. And that’s so cool! We are moving. We are getting there.

    As you said, Storm Records is doing well with Sasha. What record label are you signed onto?

    I’m on Jesus Record label (laughs). The truth is we’ve been talking to different labels, and I’m not an up-and-coming artiste by the grace of God. So if I’m going to sign with any label, it is more of me making sure that I’m still in control of my content. I’m still in control of my brand, and in a sense, my sound.

    So we are still talking to some labels. We’ve been talking for like four, five months back and forth. But while that is happening, I’m busy. I’m doing different things. There are talks. Let me just leave it that way. Let me not say what I’m not permitted to.

    When you came on the music scene, your clique were the big acts in the industry. How did it happen?

    Luck! God! I think, first thing first, I didn’t wait to meet big people to start working. I was in the studio with OJB for about three months, just working, trying to get a feel of what was happening in Nigeria. And a friend of mine, Cecile Amond, who is the CEO of Flytime Entertainment, just said, ‘Lami you know what? There is a guy I want you to work with, his name is MI’. He’s actually very good. And things kind of snowballed into each other. You know once you start hanging around; you meet the other person and the other person. Luckily, they liked what I was doing. Till now, elDee is like my brother. I just saw him like 30minutes ago.

    People, like Sound Sultan; they are like my mentor, because they’ve been around for years. To be honest with you, the answer to that question is that, I was blessed. I never had a ground scheme. I think God just kind of made sure things worked out for me. And this will sound really wishy-washy.

    But if you are good at what you do and God is involved, you will be okay! I don’t think you will come across Sound Sultan, Tuface, and they will tell you they don’t pray. They pray. This thing is not easy. There is a great price to pay for what we do on a daily basis; God, hard work and talent. Put those three things together, and you should be fine.

    There is the challenge of being a female artiste and there is also the challenge of being a married female artiste. Can you tell us about both?

    (Laughs) Wow! again, the credit, I think, goes to God, because my husband was one of the first people to tell me that I needed to do this professionally. He was the first person to tell me I needed to stand in front of the crowd. He was the first person to tell me to look into writing. He said, ‘your writing is really good’. So I am thoroughly blessed in that regard, because I don’t have to explain why I am doing what I’m doing.

    And having somebody like that around me, it’s like somebody saying, ‘you are a bird, fly’. As opposed to somebody saying, ‘you are bird, be a fish’. And in Nigeria, I realise that women are not as celebrated by their husbands as they should be. So I appreciate my husband, because he’s spectacularly awesome. He has called me like three times today, ‘how was that interview, did it go well?’ And you know that also keeps me in check.

    The good thing about it is, most of my male friends in the industry know him. In the end, he becomes closer to them even than I am. They see him and say Oga Chief. And they hail themselves and whatever. And if he’s worried about something, he can call them and say, ‘you know what? I’m not sure this decision is right, what do you think? So I’m just lucky. And I have a good team. I have a really good team. My family is superb. My mum is my fan.

    When I’m out in a newspaper or in a magazine, she buys like 50 copies and gives them out to all her friends. And my dad has taught us to be professional about anything we do. If you are a musician, be a professional. Don’t just treat it like a hubby. Do it and do it properly. Me, I’m just blessed. I can’t even say ‘oh this what Lami did that makes it work’.

    Your new single, But You, like most of your songs, centers on love. Tell us about this thing called love

    I love love! (Laughs) I’ve known my husband for about fifteen years. We’ve been friends for a long time. And we’ve gone through different phases. I find that these days a lot of women and men are just interested in getting married. When you get married, outside the wedding, there is a marriage. And these days, we don’t pay attention to that. And that marriage is like a PhD course. It is tough. It is hard. It takes being with the right person. It takes you being humble and wise. And I realise that around me, there are so many problematic issues. People do not believe that love exists. So for me, selfishly, I sometimes sing these songs for myself, to remind me of how I feel about love and how it should be, and to also remind people about how it should be.

    The kind of love that you sing about appears to be like a fairytale kind of love…

    There is no fairytale love. But there is meeting the person that you want to walk with for the rest of your life. And that doesn’t mean it’s always going to be easy. But it makes sense when it’s with the right person. Marriage is a life-long friendship. It’s gangster. Two of you just have to figure it out.

    In But You, I’m saying, I don’t need jara, you are enough for me. Like my dad would say, people who leave one marriage to go to another, how do you know the person you are going to meet is better than the person you left? Until of course he’s hitting you or something like that, you shouldn’t be involved in that. Let me just put that disclaimer out there, I do not support that. But if you’re friends, I think you can work it out.

    What do you do if hitting you is the only flaw?

    No man should ever hit a woman, never! I do not support that. Ain’t nobody gonna be hitting me, no way! My father didn’t kill me. So why should you go to somebody’s house and they would be battering you, no way. That is just wrong. To me it’s a sickness. I don’t think any man should hit on a woman and vice versa. Instead, break something, hit the wall. But to beat each other, that is just hard abuse.

    What’s your regular day like, from dawn to dusk?

    I don’t have regular days. I don’t even think there is anything regular about my days. My days are just colourful. Funny enough, the days I think are calm, are the ones…like today, we’ve been busy, but it’s not stressful. Some days are supposed to be calm, but then random things happen.

    The other day, we couldn’t find petrol. Another day my ATM card wasn’t working, random things that just change the direction of your day. But I do a lot of talking to my friends, talking to my family. I love watching cartoons. I do not like clubbing much, because in Nigeria, it’s the same songs back-to-back. If I’m in a club, I already know the ten songs they are going to be rotating. So that is not fun for me. But most of the time, I’m on my sofa, gisting with my sisters and we are just yarning about anything.

  • A sick society

    A sick society

    The brutish killing of four University of Port Harcourt students was another poignant reminder that we live in a sick society. For, it has provided us with a powerful MRI of the society from which we are able to see clearly the multiple maladies that afflict it. This society is full of monsters in human garb, savages fit only for the wild and downright brutes ill-equipped for civil society.

    We have often been delusional, and I do not exclude myself from the mental hubris that romanticises our golden age of decent humanity. Many of us have attributed the degeneration of values in our contemporary society to the neglect of our traditional heritage, which presumably privileged human dignity over material wealth. I think this is largely true and there is ample illustration in words and practice to support the view. What we have not emphasised enough is that the break with that past has been gradual and persistent even prior to the so-called colonial imposition but certainly sharper and cleaner thereafter.

    The various internal civil wars within each ethnic or nationality group predated the Atlantic slave trade and the horror of the Middle Passage. Indeed, there were ample evidences of the complicity of local chiefs in the facilitation of the capture and delivery of their kith and kin to slave traders. Just a few years ago, some African chiefs were moved to offer atonement for the involvement of our ancestors in the barbarism of enslavement. We may choose to ignore the past, but we will continue to relive it.

    Every society has a past that shames their present and a history that embarrasses. It is what is done to shape a present narrative to ensure a glorious future that separates one from the other. If we vow that the horrific past of savagery will not define our future, then we—leaders and followers— have our work cut out for us. It cannot be left to chance. It has to be a deliberate and methodical plan of action to redeem the dignity of individuals and the integrity of the nation.

    The video clip that announced the gory scene in the university town of Aluu speaks volumes. First, here is a village that is privileged to have a university located within its vicinity. How can it be that the values that are implicated in the idea of a university fail to percolate to the Aluu community? How is it that jungle justice is favored by the people of Aluu when the university prides itself in championing civil and humane justice system? Is there a meeting of minds between town and gown? If not, why not?

    In the video are young men and women many of whom are looking on with glee and some of whom are actively participating in the clubbing of fellow human beings to death! Young people? These are the ones we count on to mold a nation into what it will become? It’s scary stuff. I am sure that these young people have some form of education or another. They are not illiterates. I will not be surprised if a good number of them have university education. What does this mean? What values are we inculcating in our youths through the nation’s education system? That laptops and cell phones are so invaluable that their loss can only be atoned with human lives?

    Assume that these young people watching and participating in the lynching of their fellow human beings never stepped into a formal classroom. Is it too much to ask if they never had parents and grandparents? How were they brought up? What lessons did the village community impart? We used to be told that it takes a village to raise a child. And communities raise their children the way they—the communities would like to be identified? Aluu is now identified as a community of lynch mobs and barbarians. Was this their original idea of a community?

    Religion is equally implicated. Africans in general, and Nigerians, in particular, have been variously described as incurably religious, notoriously spiritual, and acutely God-loving. Now you could consistently be God-loving and brutal in practice if you have a divine revelation that God enjoins a savage procedure in dealing with crime. Moses ordered stoning to death of adulterers for that reason. And versions of Sharia law belong to that tradition. But that justification has not been presented by the Aluu community lynch mob. And if they did, should we accept it? Consistent with religious ideals, we know now that even the most Mosaic of modern religions has not followed the injunction to club or stone culprits to death. And for Christians, which I assume is the professed religion of a good number of the Aluu community mob the effect of the cross has been a redemption from bestiality.

    Nothing can morally justify what the Aluu mob did to the four young students. It turned out also that the end of their action is not justified by the means. They imposed a punishment of death without trial. But the community has suffered an equally stern punishment—without trial—in the hands of the youth that sought to revenge the brutal killings of their colleagues. This is what a sick society looks like. With no respect for socially accepted principles and processes of law and order, one evil and wicked act summons the other and a vicious circle of vengeance and counter vengeance continues.

    Who will save the sick society from its self-inflicted ailment? In anticipation of this possibility, rational human beings are assumed to create a decent procedure for resolving issues. They put in charge a leadership corps to ensure that everyone abides by the accepted procedure. Where that leadership functions, it promotes and sustains institutions that effectively carry out the objectives of a decent society. Such institutions will promote effective and functional education that not only trains the youth for jobs but also inculcates the values that are to sustain the welfare of the people and promote their peaceful interaction. Such institutions will effectively adjudicate conflicts and punish crimes, including the crimes of a privatised justice system. It bears emphasising that the leadership we have in mind must be visible at every level from local to national. Even in this dehumanised epoch, leadership can make a difference.