Association Saint-Camille (ASC), a comprehensive mental health provider, will open the first residential addiction center in West Africa. The center, in Benin, is anticipated to receive 256 patients Summer 2024. The well, water tower, and irrigation system will supply 17 hectares (42 acres) with water for cashews, fruit trees and various produce. The larger farm will supply sources of nutrition, income, and employment. This project is important toward the ASC goal of financial self-sufficiency.
Association Saint-Camille (ASC) serves approximately 1900 patients in residential centers in Benin of whom 94% return to their families. Others enter a rehabilitation center to learn job skills. ASC operates an extensive outpatient clinical program as well. These patients are often shunned, abandoned, and at times, chained, due to a belief that the person is possessed or contagious. ASC provides education and treatment at usually no cost to families and patients due to their inability to pay.
Sustainable farms aid in self-sufficiency for ASC and the individual patients which is always a goal at ASC. The cashew farm has been expanded to include other crops. Men, the traditional laborers, will return to farming in this rural region of Benin. Women are also highly engaged in planting, harvesting, and food distribution. Cashews will increase the nutritional value of the food provided at the centers. Adding the irrigation system is needed to complete the goal for the large farm.
The potential long-term impact is improved rehabilitation of the recovered patients into gainful employment and farming or other pursuits of their choosing. A potential cash crop, as any surplus will be sold competitively, will help defray a portion of the expenses of operating a center free, or at a minimal charge, to patients.
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