The last suppers: how a Ghanaian artist turned his final days into feasts of connection

IOL News

2 days ago

After years of living with treatment-resistant bipolar disorder, Joseph Awuah-Darko's fight for peace led him to choose legal assisted euthanasia in the Netherlands, a deeply personal, controversial decision that has taken four long years to approve.
Image: Joseph Awuah-Darko/X
When you've stood at the edge of your own existence, when the world feels like a never-ending tunnel of ache, it can take everything you have just to stay alive for one more sunrise.
For some, what pulls them back from the brink isn't just hope. It's a mission. A reason to keep breathing.
Joseph Awuah-Darko, a well-known Ghanaian artist, knows this feeling too well.
After years of living with treatment-resistant bipolar disorder, Awuah-Darko's fight for peace led him to choose legal assisted euthanasia in the Netherlands, a deeply personal, controversial decision that has taken four long years to approve.
But before he goes, Awuah-Darko is doing something extraordinary: he's inviting strangers to dinner.
The Last Supper, as he calls it, is not a final meal in the biblical sense, but an intimate ritual of human connection.
Thousands have answered his call, volunteering to share a meal, a moment, a memory.
His open letters, like one he wrote to musician SZA after dinner number 141, are raw, tender glimpses into a mind both tormented and beautifully alive.
'I'll never forget the night,' he wrote, describing how a simple dinner with a stranger became a moment of meaning in a life that often feels unbearable.
'Thank you for giving me the kind of hug I imagine everyone needs after a long day.'
Awuah-Darko's story is heartbreaking and hopeful. It reminds us that even in life's cruellest corners, some people cling to small connections like lifeboats.
They turn pain into purpose. And they remind us that maybe, just maybe, we can too.
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When depression feels like drowning
Severe depression is often invisible.
Behind a smile, someone might be waging a silent war in their own mind. Depression tells you lies:
You're a burden. You're broken. The world would be better without you. And yet, many who live with this relentless ache find ways to stay afloat.
They scrap, crawl, and claw their way through dark days, finding glimmers of light in simple, unexpected places.
Dr Vikram Patel, a global mental health expert and professor at Harvard Medical School, has long argued that depression is not a character flaw; it's an illness.
'No one tells people with a broken leg to just walk it off,' he told The Lancet Psychiatry. 'So why do we expect those with a broken mind to simply think positively?'
What helps when nothing helps?
What if you've done everything? The therapy. The medication. The meditation. The exercise. And yet the darkness stays?
For some, medical interventions like ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy) can help when all else fails.
Studies show ECT is one of the most effective treatments for severe, treatment-resistant depression (Mayo Clinic).
But sometimes, healing is about lifelines and daily acts that bring a shred of comfort.
Psychologist and Holocaust survivor Viktor E. Frankl wrote: 'Success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself.'
Finding meaning can be medicine.
Small things that keep us here
So what can help when it feels like nothing can? Mental health experts often talk about building a wellness toolbox, small actions to lift your mood, even for a moment.
Reconnect with a lost hobby. Pick up knitting or pottery. Studies show 'grandma hobbies' can calm the mind. Try something new: A language class, a cooking lesson, or even planting a garden. Research from the Journal of Positive Psychology shows that learning something new gives your mind a purpose break.
Make space for joy: Watch a movie that makes you laugh. Even t aking a walk in nature for even 20 minutes can lower stress hormones, reveals a study in Frontiers in Psychology.
Serve others: Volunteer. Call a friend. Bake a cake for a neighbour. Service doesn't have to be grand; small kindnesses add up.
When you can't do it alone
If you or someone you love is feeling close to the edge, please reach out for help.
You're not alone. Talk to a doctor. Call a mental health helpline. Tell a friend. Let people cook for you like Awuah-Darko did.
His 'Last Supper' reminds us that sometimes, strangers save us. Sometimes, we save ourselves by inviting someone to dinner. Sometimes, one meal or one hug keeps us here a little longer.
If you or someone you know needs help, reach out to the South African Suicide Crisis Helpline at 0800 567 567 or contact SADAG at 0800 456 789.