5 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
He Announced His Intention to Die. The Dinner Invitations Rolled In.
In early December, a 28-year-old Ghanaian artist and entrepreneur named Joseph Awuah-Darko announced on Instagram that he wanted to die. His battles with bipolar disorder had crushed his will to live, he said in a minute-long video, so he had moved to the Netherlands to pursue medically assisted death.
The post started with Mr. Awuah-Darko in tears, saying, 'I'm just so tired,' then segued to a series of images of him having what looked like a pretty good time. Smiling and floating in shimmering blue water. Relaxing on a lawn in the shade of a tree. Pausing in contemplation on a wooden bridge.
Three days later, he followed up with one of the stranger dinner invitations in the history of dinner. As he navigated the obstacles of an officially sanctioned end, he wrote in a post, he would launch what he called 'The Last Supper Project.' Anyone who wanted to cook an at-home meal for him could sign up on a calendar app linked to his Instagram bio. On the appointed evening, he would visit, and the assembled would converse, eat and connect.
'I want to find meaning again with people,' he said in the post, 'while I have time still left on earth.'
Within a few days, thousands of people reached out. To date, Mr. Awuah-Darko has attended 152 Last Suppers. He has boarded trains to visit homes in Berlin, Paris, Antwerp and Milan. He has traveled to cities all over the Netherlands and to dozens of Amsterdam neighborhoods. Those who don't cook have treated him to high-end bistros, where a meal costs $100 per person, and to Burger King.
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