Drill a Well and Irrigate a new farm in Benin

Dear Friends, 

Thank you so much for your continued support!  The cashews are growing so well in Togo that we got word from our founder, Gregoire Ahongbonon, requesting us to shift focus to Benin! Gregoire's idea is to create an agricultural project at Dassa in Benin.  This project will be on 35 hectares (86.5 acres) near Dassa, in support of the new Addiction Center projected to open in summer 2023. A variety of plants will be grown and will serve as healthy food for the residents, a source of income for Association Saint-Camille (ASC) and a rehabilitation project for those interested in obtaining farming skills.  This project is a win-win as it has been proven successful in other areas where ASC has established farms.    

The total cost of the well project is $6,574 USD. We hope to reach this goal by the end of the year with your help and other partners. A biography of Gregoire, Le Regard Qui Libere (The Gaze that Frees), by consulting psychiatrist, Dr. Benoit Des Roches has been published in French. It has been promoted at several events in Canada.  All proceeds will go to ASC.

The project at Dassa is coming along and we eagerly await the completion of construction and the arrival of the first residents. Land has been donated in Nigeria, and we are awaiting finalization of the legal transfer to ASC.  It will be exciting to open a center in the first English speaking country for Saint-Camille. These projects will take several years to develop and we hope that you will stay involved with us over that time period. 

We have built new momentum with the interest of volunteers and trainees since Gregoire Ahongbonon was awarded the Dr. Chester M. Pierce Human Rights award from the American Psychiatric Association in May 2022.  Our core mission is to raise awareness of the plight of the mentally ill population in West Africa and expand the breadth of expertise available per Gregoire's visionary leadership. 

Thank you for continuing to make this vision a reality.           

Links:

• Drone footage of Dassa construction

Dear Friends,

I'm honored to let you know that the first 3 months of the project are going well.  The irrigation system is in. We are facing a bit of a deadline to get the well in before the end of the rainy season this fall. In the bigger scheme of things, the cashew farm will provide skills that recovered patients can take with them and the cashews will increase the nutritional value of the food prepared at Association Saint-Camille (ASC).  For an extra bonus for self-sufficiency - any surplus can be sold and help defray patient care costs at ASC.  Recovering patients can help their families by being gainfully employed and simultaneously giving back to ASC.  We hear many stories of gratitude about the care they receive at ASC. 

On an even larger scale, ASC founder, Gregoire Ahongbonon, was the recipient of the American Psychiatric Association 2022 Chester M. Pierce Human Rights Award in May.  To have his work recognized by a medical association of this stature we hope will put ASC in a more prominent position to end stigma and chaining of the mentally ill in West Africa and beyond. In the photograph you will see Gregoire asking "why?" about removing these chains from someone.

Thank you for your gifts and for being a part of the journey with Gregoire and his team of peer counselors, advocates and families in this important work.       

Links:

• Gregoire Ahongbonon's pre-recorded speech to the APA.
• Chantal Tells Her Story