Grégoire Ahongbonon

Grégoire Ahongbonon
Born1953 Edit this on Wikidata
Benin Edit this on Wikidata
Awards

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

Biography

[edit]

Ahongbonon was born in Benin and immigrated to the Ivory Coast.[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

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  • 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

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  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.