About the author:

Emmanuel Gbevegnon was born on May 25, 1962.  He is number ten (10) of a family of eleven (11) children. Currently Emmanuel lives in Yokohama City, Japan. He is married and has three sons.  

Emmanuel is a member of the Faculty of Letters at Ferris University, Yokohama Japan.  He is a polyglot who has studied and speaks several languages including Fon, Mina (Native African Languages) Latin, Spanish, French, English, and Japanese. 

In 2012, the Executive Director of the Beninese Agency for Reconciliation and Development (B.A.R.D.), appointed Goodwill Ambassador Emmanuel to Japan. In his role of goodwill ambassador, he became acquainted with a Japanese Society for research in anthropology, known as Japan Society of Humanistic Anthropology Association (J.S.H.A.). J.S.H.A. board of directors, studied the reconciliation process in Benin, and they reported it in their bulletin number nine in 2012.   J.S.H.A. board of directors understood the necessity and the urgency to promote reconciliation awareness. They decided to take it to both the Japanese people and to the world.

Together, Emmanuel and J.S.H.A. crisscrossed the world, empowered by the authority of J.S.H.A. and diplomatic recommendations, to inform the world about the proposal of a world forum for peace and reconciliation. During the trips to deliver the message of reconciliation, Emmanuel met the government, the military, parliament members, religious leaders, political party leaders, and the youth of Nepal. Emmanuel also met the strategic planning officers of U.N.E.S.C.O. (United Nations Education, Social and Cultural Organization) headquarters in Paris, permanent mission diplomats to the United Nations headquarters in New-York, Pontificio Consiglio della Giustizia e della Pace, Pontificio Consiglio della Cultura, and the Community of Sant’ Egidio in Rome, Italy. 

His passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and its application in human life, led him to read books containing the life of Saints such as Saint Francis of Assisi and many others. In the same line, he reads books about action taken for education through art, human rights civil rights, reconciliation, peace, and development. Emmanuel also enjoys watching movies about the dream, life, and achievements of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  Emmanuel’s favorite genres of music are spirituals, gospel, blues, and jazz. The circumstances surrounding his miraculous birth lead his parents to give him the name “Emmanuel.”