The Saint Camille de Lellis Association in Bouake was formed in 1983 as a result of the work of Gregoire Ahongbonon.
Gregoire was born in Benin, he is married and has six children. He has worked as a tyre mechanic and has operated a taxi service.

An "all round" Christian, he started to take an interest in the mentally ill after going on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1982 and hearing a priest ask, during a sermon: "what stone are you carrying to build Christ's Church?".

This question, to a sensitive soul made even more aware by a severe personal existential crisis that he was going through, literally changed his life. Back in Bouake in fact, as he was driving along the road, Gregoire noticed a person wandering about looking for food completely naked.

He went up to this person and realised that he was “mentally ill” and had, because of this sick condition, been cast out from society.

This was the spark that ignited his interest because these people were no longer regarded as men but as "garbage", "trash", as people no longer worthy of respect.