She Defected Suicidal Thoughts

Nanyi is not the regular girl you will meet. She's intelligent, articulate and having an awesome personality. You could say, she's an exceptional lady.

She was just 23 when she first walked into my office seeking for employment. Going through her credentials and after having a chat with her, she was just the best candidate for the position my company was recruiting for. So, I directed her to the director of personal, who gave her the employment letter and benefits accrued to her office.

Few months into Nanyi's work with my company, she became friends with my wife. Unlike other friendship, the two became as sisters and inseparable.  I must say that I sometimes jealous their friendship.

My wife and I thought everything was good and fine with Nanyi. We never saw any form of negativity from her as she was always cheerful and hardworking. Nanyi became so committement to her work, that since the establishment of my company, we've never hard such a resourceful Account Executive.

Two years down the line, my company received an Award as the best in the industry. To add to that, we had  recorded high profit that year. Some how, the year was endowed with many blessings, as my wife also delivered our third child( girl). To show how close we have been with Nanyi, we made her our daughter's God Mother.

Six months after the birth of my third child, my wife and Nanyi travelled to represent the company at a conference in Ibadan. At the conference, my wife noticed some abnormal behaviour with Nanyi. Later at their hotel room, my wife tried finding out about the sudden change with Nanyi, but she was not open to discuss anything. So, My wife called me later that day to tell me what she had observed with Nanyi. I told her to be patience with her and we prayed about it over the phone.

After their arrival from the conference, everyone at the office began to notice Nanyi's disposition. She became isolated, aggressive to other colleagues, had negative view of her self and lots of treats that after some careful studies, I discovered that they where signs that suggested suicidal behaviors.

My wife then suggested that we ask Nanyi to come spend the weekend with us. She initially rejected the invite, but after much persuasion from my wife, she agreed to come. So, from work that Friday, she drove straight to my house. After my wife and Nanyi had made dinner, we happily ate and headed to the TV room as we all watched a movie.

Saturday was the day I usually take my family out; on this particular Saturday, Nanyi was with us when i took my family round the 'ghetto' of Jos, I took them to visit the psychiatry, the prison, and at intervals stop to give arms to beggars we saw on the street. The last place we visited before heading home, was the cemetery; where we visited the grave site of a Friend I lost to an accident.

When we got home, I asked everyone to freshen up and rest because they were exhausted from the days activity. At 6:30pm, we went out to a restaurant for dinner. After returning from the restaurant, and tucking the children to sleep, it was then time that we talked with Nanyi.

It wasn't easy for Nanyi to open up to us, but with much patience and persistence, she told us everything that was going on with her. Some of the issues had lingered for more than five years and she had already concluded on ending everything that weekend we invited her over. So she planned that after the weekend she was going to commit suicide.

However, after about 3 hours of discussion, counselling and prayers, Nanyi had a change of mind. She became ready to face a her fears and my wife and I were ready to go all the way with her.

Today my wife and I run an NGO. Our NGO's target is to help give meaning to life for those who had lost hope about life and are about to end their lives. I also host a TV show that brings survivals of tragic experience from suicidal thoughts, rape,violence and sexual abuse to share their stories of hope.

Written By: Nankpak Cirfat (#SpeakLife By IamNankpak)

Note: This writing is a complete work of fiction and is in no way an imitation of any person.