Grégoire Ahongbonon

Grégoire Ahongbonon (born 1953) founded the St Camille Association in 1994 to provide residential care for people in West Africa suffering from mental illness.[1]

Biography

Ahongbonon was born in Benin and immigrated to Côte d'Ivoire.[2]

Ahongbonon was formerly a mechanic.[3]

He was inspired to start the association following experiencing depression himself, which led him to consider suicide.[4] He is quoted as saying "As long as there is one man in chains, it is humanity who is chained."

Ahongbonon won the Daily Trust African of the Year 2015, which included a $50,000 prize.[5][6]

In 2020 he won the Dr. Guislain Award, attributed by the Guislain Institute (Brothers of Charity) and Johnson & Johnson - dr. Janssen. [7]

Literature
  • Adjovi, Laeila, Gregoire Ahongbonon: Freeing people chained for being ill, (BBC, 17 February 2016),
  • Nigeria: I've Treated 60,000 Mentally-Ill - Ahongbonon - allAfrica.com, in: allafrica.com, 2016.
  • Grégoire Ahongbonon wins the 2020 Dr. Guislain Award 2020, in: Deus Caritas Est, december 2020.

References
  1. "Grégoire Ahongbonon: "Si no tienes dinero, nadie te cura en África"". El Debate de Hoy (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  2. "Humble beginnings: Grégoire Ahongbonon and the St Camille Association". WHO. 2005. Archived from the original on July 29, 2009. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  3. Adjovi, Laeila (17 February 2016). "Gregoire Ahongbonon: Freeing people chained for being ill". BBC. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  4. "The Chains of Mental Illness in West Africa | The New York Times".
  5. "Nigeria: I've Treated 60,000 Mentally-Ill - Ahongbonon - allAfrica.com". allafrica.com. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  6. "Gregoire Ahongbonon of Benin wins African of the year award 2015". ghananewsagency.org. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  7. Grégoire Ahongbonon wins the 2020 Dr. Guislain Award, in:Deus Caritas est, december 2020.
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