Rebbio, meeting with Gregoire Ahongbonon, the “Basaglia of Africa”

Wednesday 3 July, at 9pmal New Theatre of Rebbioin via Lissi 9 in Como, theTerraLuce Onlus Association promotes, together with the Friends of Zinviè, Beyond the Chainsmeeting-testimony with Gregoire Ahongbononil Basaglia of Africa, met by volunteers during the last African trip in October 2023 and who embodies a story of exceptional commitment.

Gregoire Ahongbononborn in 1953 in Benin, married, father of six children, for 35 years he has literally “picked up” mentally ill people from the streets in Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso. Coming from Benin, a simple father, a past as a tire dealer, after an experience of religious conversion he began to dedicate himself to the “last”, people with mental problems. In the social context of those African countries, mental disorders are blamed on evil spirits and often for those affected by them the fate is cruel: many end up abandoned and alone, homeless, reduced to feeding on garbage; others remain with their families, but treated inhumanely, barely fed and segregated for life. Over the years, Grégoire has welcomed more than 60,000 people with mental problems. He has freed a thousand people from chains, a method still often used in various African contexts to “treat” people with mental disorders. Supported and guided by faith, Gregoire is helped by his family and by volunteers, both religious and lay. He manages the reception centers through the association “Saint Camille de Lellis”, founded by him, belonging to the Great Family of San Camillo. Visiting their homes, where the patients themselves undergoing therapy take care of others, one realizes how, through caring, one can guarantee a dignified and participatory life even to those who, according to their culture, deserve nothing but chains.