Just in: Hear Joka discuss his recovery in his own words

By Benoît Des Roches, MD-psychiatrist

I met Joka, a well-known singer in Benin, in the Fall of 2019. He had had to be hospitalized for a serious chronic Bipolar disorder he had developed over time. He came out quite outspokenly to tell me about the hard times he and his family had gone through. He also gained much insight about his illness at Association St-Camille-de-Lellis where the mentally ill are cared for in West Africa and told me how he got increasingly compliant with his lifelong treatment. A warm, smiling and humble family man, here is Joka showing me around his new studio, at St-Camille’s Calavi Rehab Center, in the suburb of Cotonou, Benin, where he went back to composing those popular Beninese tunes he’s got the secret for.

Thanks, Joka, for all the good you are doing around you, as a credible spokesman for St-Camille’s cause: bringing back dignity for all humans, including the mentally ill!

Quebec, Canada