The first day of our conference in Malawi was quite interesting. Ever before we said the opening prayer, the Police Department sent their representatives to carry out some enlightenment campaign to the participants. Two things featured prominently in their presentation. They raised concerns about child trafficking and the related problem of grooming young girls as sex workers. Then they talked about suicide cases that are on the rise in the country. They noted that suicide rates are much higher among men than women. They believe it is because men hardly disclose their problems. Their presentation inspired me to read up a little more about the problem. Official records show the number of suicide cases in the first half of 2023 as 256 people. The report for the same period for the previous year puts it at 135 people. Judging by the small population of the country, that is truly worrisome.
We live at a time when suicide is no longer a problem for one part of the world; it has become a universal plague. This goes to say that there are problems everywhere. Problems do not respect region or race, what befalls one can befall all. Regardless of where we live, we all need to constantly feast on the grace of God. Whereas there is no region without its peculiar difficulties, there is nothing that the grace of God cannot address. The more of His grace we access, the stronger our stamina and inner rectitude to withstand suggestions to take extreme measures like suicide.