Johannesburg - It wasn’t long ago when Bongani Chinkanda attempted to take his own life.
Having battled with depression and anxiety for months on end, the 42-year-old saw only one way out.
The plan was to overdose.
“I tried to commit suicide by taking painkillers,” says Chinkanda. “Fortunately, I was able to expunge them from my system. The thought of my family being without me changed everything in that moment.”
The build-up to that moment was a result of depression and anxiety that the Malawian-born and raised entrepreneur faced for several months as a result of a failed business.
He says life was unbearable, and each day felt like a struggle.
“After my business failed, I suffered from depression and anxiety for a period of ten months. It was quite a dark time in my life, whereby I could barely function. I struggled to sleep, and most importantly, it was difficult to work and deliver outputs. I left like I was a failure, that I had no place being here in the world. I felt I was unlovable, that I did not deserve to live.
“Just going through the day was a mental and physical battle as I had no motivation to do anything. Even taking a bath was hard. At night, I could not sleep because of the negative thoughts. It was horrible. It was tough.”
Having hit the lowest point in his life, Chinkanda agreed to get some help and admitted himself into Akeso Clinic in Parktown to get treatment.
“I was there for three weeks, getting different types of therapy. After my hospital stay, I was on anti-depressants for six months. What really helped me was reading, exercise and family support during that period.”
Now the Johannesburg-based media entrepreneur is preparing for one of the most important journeys in his life.
In May this year, he will attempt to cycle 160km on a gravel road from Hartbeespoort to Sun City to raise awareness of the realities of anxiety and depression.
Chinkanda, who was schooled in Harare, Zimbabwe, before completing a degree at Rhodes University in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape, recently launched his R160 000 in 160km Back A Buddy campaign, which he aims to achieve on Saturday, 7 May 2022.
With the pandemic wreaking further havoc on the mental health of South Africans and others from around the globe, he believes it is the perfect time to raise awareness of the realities of anxiety and depression.
He says he is ready to challenge himself mentally and physically as he prepares for his gruelling ride soon.
“I am quite excited but also nervous as I know the task ahead of me will not be easy,” says Chinkanda.
He has been training hard over the past few months in the hope that he will successfully complete his journey.
“I decided to do a race in January. Since then, I have been on a 16-week training plan. This requires me to train five times a week, either on an indoor bike at the gym or on my mountain bike. One can never be too confident, but I feel it is something I will be able to achieve.”
With suicide rates sky-rocketing in SA and the rest of the world, Chinkanda says it was important for him to undertake this journey.
“It is very sad that depression and anxiety is killing so many people. Now more than ever, should we as a nation pay attention to the suffering. We need to keep the conversation alive on every platform as much as possible.”
He is hoping that his journey will help raise awareness and spur on a conversation about mental health.
“I hope that this is a conversation that will lead to more conversations in homes, communities, towns, cities and the country. We need to talk openly about mental health challenges and how it is affecting us as a society. I feel that we just don’t know how to deal with it, so we rather ignore it and hope it goes away or it does not affect us or our loved ones.
“To top it off is to be able to raise the R160 000 in 160km for Sadag (South African Depression and Anxiety Group) as a symbol for our collective commitment to this fight. I am hoping the campaign will raise awareness around depression and anxiety, especially for professional black males.”
He says it's important that mental health be made a priority.
“Being locked down and not interacting with other human beings is not normal. When you are depressed, you are actually advised not to be alone. You need to be around people. So you can only imagine what lockdown, the death rates and job losses did for all of us. We need to keep the conversations going and support NPOs like Sadag who are leading this fight.”
Chinkanda says it is important that people know that depression and anxiety is a disease that can be treated.
“People need to seek help and let their loved ones know how they are feeling.”
Having already raised R10 000 for the campaign, Chinkanda says that “every amount counts” and is appealing to the public to support this worthy cause.
“People want to make a difference but don’t know how and they feel their small donation does not matter. 160in160 will take all these amounts and make it into one big donation of R160 000, and those involved will feel they would have made a big difference.”
For him, cycling and exercise has proven to be his stress manager and helped him through his time with anxiety and depression.
He emphasises that exercise, along with the assistance from Sadag, helped save his life, and he wants to highlight the amazing work they do in South Africa.
“What is important to highlight is that the service is accessible to everyone for free. The work the call centre teams do is selfless, and we need to support this initiative as many people need and should access this service”.
He is very passionate about creating further awareness about the role the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag) played in his journey in healing from anxiety and depression.
“I am a strong believer that one’s test should always be a testimony to give hope to others. I would like to donate R160k to Sadag for the great work they do with those suffering. It so happened that I used Sadag during my battle, and it is fitting that I give back. I am one of the lucky ones that made it through to the other side through medication and therapy. Many have not. Many are still suffering.”
To find out more about Chinkanda’s Back A Buddy cause, visit https://www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/project/160in160