Grégoire Ahongbonon Explained

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.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Grégoire Ahongbonon: "Si no tienes dinero, nadie te cura en África". El Debate de Hoy. es. 2019-09-24.
2. News: Humble beginnings: Grégoire Ahongbonon and the St Camille Association. https://web.archive.org/web/20090729080613/http://www.who.int/features/2005/mental_health/beginnings/en/. dead. July 29, 2009. 17 February 2016. WHO. 2005.
3. News: Adjovi. Laeila. Gregoire Ahongbonon: Freeing people chained for being ill. 17 February 2016. BBC. 17 February 2016.
4. Web site: The Chains of Mental Illness in West Africa The New York Times.
5. Web site: Nigeria: I've Treated 60,000 Mentally-Ill - Ahongbonon - allAfrica.com. allafrica.com. 10 September 2016.
6. Web site: Gregoire Ahongbonon of Benin wins African of the year award 2015. ghananewsagency.org. 10 September 2016.
7. Grégoire Ahongbonon wins the 2020 Dr. Guislain Award, in:Deus Caritas est, december 2020.