A final-year student of the University of Cape Coast, Yaw Sefah Ampomah, has committed suicide because he felt he was “too short.” He died in Kumasi hotel through poisoning.
Yaw, aged about 26, a level 400 student of Geography and Tourism, felt that short and smallish men had no chance in the world.
A message he left behind, stumbled upon by the Times said: “Short people who have made it in life, started rising and climaxed at a time when society was not aware of the prospects of people with height advantage. But in this ultra-modern world, people are cautious of the advantages of tallness.
“I know I possess all the will-power to resist this suicide, but I felt it was needed. I saw it as a peaceful avenue to escape social embarrassment.”
Yaw did not like the way he was brought up in the society and said nature had been unfair to him. “I must confess that it really pains me to see my younger siblings and some children, now taller and fatter than me. All my body parts are small. Talk of my feet, toes, hands, fingers, head, etc. As though that wasn’t enough I observed the hairs on my little head were thinning, giving way for baldness to take over. Consequently, I became fully convinced that the world has disappointed me, hence my decision to take my life.
“If I continued to live to see what is happening in the world, my heart would weep and I should be aggrieved. So, to save myself from that, I decided to escape through death.”
In fact, I didn’t know I was short until 1998 when I entered the Training College. It worsened when I entered the University. When I realised that all hope was lost after 20 years, I decided to be content with myself.
Alas, society began to ‘pressurise’ me. After three more years I felt left behind as I saw that children who I am about six years older were growing to overtake me. I felt shorter and shorter. I felt devalued.”
Yaw noted in his statement that his death could not be understood by many people in the society and apologized to his father for giving him such a shocker – “a painful blow whose pinch can be equated to that of the arrow that pierced through the heart of the Virgin Mary.”
He said that although he wished to bury his mother, events had compelled him to take the lead. “Let me quickly remark that I might be spiritually blind to have seen that some external forces were acting against me.”
Yaw’s death, according to the Times, has sent shock waves through the student body. While some find the action absurd, others are of the view that there were external forces behind his death. His parents, from the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo Regions, are said to be devout Christians, but Yaw was not.
investigations revealed that Yaw began to announce his intentions to his colleagues when he was in the first year. But the students did not take his pronouncements serious, until the unexpected happened. “I was destined to commit suicide,” Yaw wrote.
He has since been buried.
