February 25th Marked the official unveiling of the Live And Not Die project, A Suicide prevention scheme targeted to the general public. The project was unveiled by Kunle Pelemo alongside his team. The program was held at the Empowerment Center Allen-Avenue, Lagos.
The world health organization is 2011 affirmed that suicide is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. According to the body, approximately one million people commit suicide each year worldwide.
The convener, Kunle Pelemo tagged the project ” The Urgency Of Sucide Kuntrol”.
The venue was set to receive its guests as celebrities graced the Red carpet just in time to kick off the program. The event started with an opening prayer and introduction of guests, panelists and pressmen.
The unveiling program was hosted by Alayande Stephen T. (The Project Director) kicked off with a brief welcome speech by Coach Triple A to sensitize the audience on the reason behind their gathering. This was proceeded by a music interlude by Forthbeing. A drama skit by Glorious Performance Drama Ministry (GDPM) led by Olusanya Babalola also prepared the audience for what was to come; suicide is real but not the solution to hardship. The event had musical performances from MAXIM and Forthbeing while Pietrina did the honour of a special poem rendition on Suicide.worldwide.
L.A.N.D Convener, Kunle Pelemo took to the stage to give the Press briefing. He said, By 2020, the WHO approximates 1.53million people will die from suicide based on the trend.
Kunle Pelemo highlighted how his idea and passion for suicide prevention came about, after his successful intervention to prevent a friend from carrying out this destructive act.
In his words, he said “The LAND project is aimed to support people with suicide related issues. L.A.N.D believes everyone has the right and reason to live. The project seeks to prevent suicide with the help of Research, Information, Technology and Support (RITS) in Africa and other parts of the world. This support ranges from moral, mental, material and psychological support at no cost to identified individuals.
The panel comprised of Tinsel star, Adelegan Rotimi Ademiluyi, Comedian, Owen Gee, Eniola Adeniji, Teniola Adeyemi, Remi Dairo and Pastor. Victor Azuka Adigwe.
The panelist shed more light on the severity of suicide and how it starts from the little things we ignore before it escalates to something more severe like depression. They also shared experiences on how they battled depression and stated the importance of checking on our mental health
Owen Gee also narrated his near suicide experience and how he managed to maneuver it through the help of his son. He said that sometime last year, he was so depressed that he would rather be asleep than awake and that at the time he would use medications that would knock him off for three (3) days and he would only wake up once to eat.
A #landchallenge initiatives which would be launched across social media, aimed at celebrating the gift of life and spreading the suicide prevention message to all was unveiled and projected to the participants” he averred.
The concept is very simple as we are to make short videos doing something exciting like screaming, dancing somersaulting, singing,or saying a poem anything creative, then use a caption saying celebrate life, live and not die
The social media handles are Facebook- Live And Not Die, Instagram and Twitter- LAND Project1, website- www.landproject.org.ng and the hotlines are- 08038603727, 08034641258. The L.A.N.D team encourage as many people as possible to give a helping hand in showing love and LISTENING to other people’s plight with a view to giving them a shoulder to lean on because that could be the simple step to prevent someone from committing suicide.
The program ended on a high note with group pictures and other merriment.