The Elevator Plunge: Shall We Drop From the 5th Floor to the Basement? The Day I Finalised My Name Change.

Life is spiritual and as much as I wish there were an escape to this reality for myself, I have been compelled to come to terms with it. It may seem funny, and I have had to get to a point where I must laugh about some of these things because I feel like my life is like a Nigerian movie sometimes, and the kind of experiences I have are mind-blowing. This happened on 16th February 2024.

There’s a story and a history to the reason I wanted to change my name, which I will share later when I am comfortable. I started that journey in July 2023, when I swore an affidavit to have my name changed and had it gazetted and published by the Ghana Publishing Authority. The next step was to have it effected on my Ghana Card, because the Ghana Card is everything now in Ghana.

So, I started that journey in February 2024. On 14th February 2024, Val’s Day, I went to the National Identification Authority at the CalBank Headquarters. The CalBank Headquarters, Apartment Car Park Complex, there’s a branch of NIA on the last floor of the car park complex, which is the fifth floor.

I went there because I was told that the pressure over there was less compared to other branches of the NIA, so it would have been faster. I went there that day with my birth certificate, basically any document to prove that I am who I say I am, my passport, my old WASSCE certificate, my BSc certificate, my university certificate, everything to support the fact that it’s truly me.

Then it was my turn to see the NIA officer, and she goes like, “She will not accept this.” I was wondering why.

She asked, “Why do you want to change your name?”

And I said, “Because I am now of age, and I can decide to change my name.”

She said, “Okay, bring an old document with the new name on it.”

I said, “That’s not possible. How do I get an old document with the new name?”

“Are you married?”

I said, “No, I’m not married.”

“So why are you coming to change your name if you are not married?”

First of all, misogyny in Ghana is very insane, because why the hell do I need to explain to you? Why should that be the only reason a woman allowed to change her name? I want to change my name. That is it. I don’t understand why I have to be giving you all this explanation. Whether I’m married or not, I’m changing my name.

She said, “Okay, if you cannot produce an old document with the new name on it, then I am referring you to the CID office at the NIA Head Office to interrogate you.”

I was like, what? An old document with a new name on it? Can you imagine? Criminal interrogation as to why I want to change my name. They asked me so many questions, family history, and I had to answer all of them. Then the CID officer passed me and said, “Okay,” and that he’s writing the notes, and they should accept the name change.

By this time, it was already about 4 p.m., and there was no way I could have gone back to CalBank and met them. They had closed at that time and so I had to push it to the following day, which was 15th February.

15th February

The following day, 15th February, I went to the NIA branch at CalBank on the Storey Car Park again. I sat there from about 8 o’clock in the morning till 4 p.m. The network was down, and there was no way I was going through the process to get my Ghana Card that day.

When I was leaving, which was around 4 p.m., I met a security man downstairs, and he gave me his number. We exchanged contacts, and he said that he would call me the following day, 16th, before I left my house so I wouldn’t waste my time and come there when the network was not back. He said he would call me when the network came back, and then I should move and come there. I said, “Okay, sure.”

16th February

On 16th February, around 8 a.m., he called me and said I should move, that the network was back. So, I quickly got myself together and got there. When I arrived, truly, the network was back. I joined the queue, went through the process, and handed over the documents from the NIA headquarters, from the investigations department at the NIA headquarters.

I got to the point where I had to go to the CalBank branch to make a payment. Take note, the NIA office was on the fifth floor. I had taken the lift that morning to go up because it was too hard to take the stairs. Now, to go and pay the fee downstairs at the CalBank branch, I had to go down again. I entered the elevator and pressed one, for either the first floor or ground floor, whichever it was, I’m forgetting.

As soon as the elevator door shut, I realized something very weird happened in a split second. In about 5 to 10 seconds, this thing had happened. The elevator was going down faster than it should. It went down so fast. I remember relaxing a bit on the wall of the elevator because I was wondering, “Ah, what’s going on?”

It landed with force. But shockingly, I was still standing. I was like, “Ah, what’s happening? What’s wrong?”

Then I realized I was standing there, waiting for the elevator door to open. I stood there for about 20 seconds, and the door wasn’t opening. Within those 20 seconds, the light in the elevator started flickering. Then it went off completely. Then it came back, something like a very dim light came on. And it started behaving like a microwave, the sound you hear from a microwave.

I was like, “What the hell is going on?”

I pressed and pressed. I realized the door wasn’t opening. No, no freaking way. There was something wrong with the elevator. The elevator was faulty, and I was stuck in a faulty elevator. Alone.

And the heat that descended in that elevator, within those few minutes was crazy. It was freaking hot. I said, “I don’t understand.”

So, I started pressing the alarm inside the elevator. Then the alarm started ringing, but I couldn’t hear anyone coming.

I took my phone. I remember, in the elevator, I said a prayer. I said, “God, I’m about to take my phone. I know usually when you’re in a lift, you don’t have network. But God, please, I beg, let it be that I have network.”

I pulled out my phone, and guess what? I had all full bars of network.

The first person who came to mind was the security man I exchanged contacts with the previous day. I called him and said, “I’m stuck in the lift. I don’t know which point I’m on right now, but I’m stuck. It dropped, and I don’t know where it stopped. Please get help.”

I told him I was pressing the alarm.

The Rescue

I was stuck in the elevator for a period of max 15 minutes. I called my mum after calling the security man, just to let someone in my family know what had happened.

Then the security man called back and shouted from somewhere outside that I should press the alarm so they could locate where I was. I pressed the alarm then I heard some men saying, “Hold it! Hold it! One, two, three…” It seemed like they were using a metal, and I could hear them forcing something open above me.

When they got to three, the elevator door opened, and I came out.

I was dripping in sweat, from my head to my toe, even under my hair, and I don’t even sweat under my hair. The moment I stepped out, the door shut behind me.

I looked around and realized, wait, I don’t even know where I’m standing. I’m not familiar with this location. Since frequenting this premise, I’ve never seen this place. So where am I?

I decided to follow the light out of the space. I walked out and realized there were a lot of cars around here. Where am I?

That’s when I realized I was actually at the basement of the building.

I was like, “Wait, this is crazy. I’m at the basement.”

I went to the bank branch, finished my transaction, paid the fee, and came back. On my way back, I heard some men, maybe the ones who opened the elevator, saying they were looking for the lady who came out of the elevator and that this has never happened in the building before. They had apparently rushed to the basement to check if I was alright. When they got there, I wasn’t there. They said they were wondering if I was hurt and that they were shocked to see me standing with no injuries. It was the security man I had called that identified me to rest of the group.

Comic Relief: My Mum’s Reaction

Now, a funny jest for comic relief.

When I called my mum to tell her that this is what had happened to me, I didn’t hear back from her until after I had stepped out of the elevator and gone to make the payment at the bank. That’s when my mum called again, or so I thought.

When the call came through, I thought it was my mum, but it was my auntie, my mum’s sister. She said my mum almost collapsed and had a terrible panic attack. She couldn’t breathe.

My mum had entered a very severe state of fear and shock. She couldn’t get herself out of it. Even to call me and ask if I was okay, she told her sister to do it because she was so scared. She couldn’t believe what had just happened.

My mum was so scared, she had to let her sister call and find out if I was okay.

When I answered the call and said, “I’m fine, I’m out now,” that’s when she finally took the phone and said,

“Jesus! Jesus! Your life will not kill me! I have not met a human being like you in my life before!”

Final Words

What I would like to say finally is that I have experienced things, mind-blowing things. And I told God, “If anybody doesn’t believe in You, let my life be a testimony so that they believe in You. Let my life experiences be a testimony of Your existence.”

And sometimes, you know, you say these random prayers, and you really wonder how it’s going to happen, that someone will believe in God because your life is a testimony.

These are the things...

Some people say the most dangerous prayer is telling God, “If this person is not good for me, remove them from my life.”

I don’t think that’s the most dangerous prayer.

The most dangerous prayer is telling God, “Use me.”

Because I promise you, you will go through fire. And you’re supposed to be standing. And in fact, in the fire, you wonder if you’ll survive. But you come out of it. And you go, “Okay, I’m alive... Wow. Okay.”

So, if you’re out here telling God, “Make me a vessel, use me,” buckle up for a bumpy ride.

This is how I know that I am on the right path.

When I am about to make a life-changing decision, and I face a lot of adversity and transgression. Sometimes some people may interpret it as, “This is the reason you are not supposed to go there,” or “This is the reason you are not supposed to do this.” But you should pray to God to be able to identify which one is a cautionary sign, and which one is a reason for you to take on the challenge and continue on the path that you’ve chosen, that you believe God is directing you on.

I have experienced easy blessings, but a lot of the major and life changing blessings I have experienced came with a lot of adversity and transgression, making me more convinced that I am supposed to keep going and pushing on this path.

I just want to encourage someone, that in the midst of trouble, don’t run. Don’t lose hope. God is with you. And as He promised, He would never leave you nor forsake you.

It is written in the Bible that Jesus died, and on the third day He rose. I want to speak metaphorically and relate it to my story, that on the third day, I was supposed to have died, but instead, I was reborn. Because that was a very serious situation, yet I came out alive.

And funny enough, they went to look for me at the elevator, and they did not find me. I was already out. They met me on the way, asking, “How? How are you standing? And you’re okay?”

So, my name is, my name is now Abena Onsonyameye Kyei, and I have been reborn.

Truly, Onsonyameye, there is nothing He cannot do.