Lotti
LATROUS
The Pahl Peace Prize 2022 honors Mrs. Lotti Latrous for her lifetime of service. Mrs. Latrous has always held the dignity of the poorest in the highest regard, has nursed them, and shone a light even in the darkest of places.
In Adjouffou I realized the meaning of life. It is meaningless to strive for money and a beautiful house. The only thing worth striving for is to help our fellow human beings.
Lotti Latrous
Biographie
LOTTI LATROUS
Mrs. Liselotte “Lotti” Latrous is a Swiss development worker and has been working for over twenty years in the Ivory Coast to fight the greatest human suffering of the poorest. Selflessness, compassion and helpfulness characterize Mrs. Latrous’ life.
Mrs. Lotti Latrous was born in 1953 in Dielsdorf, Switzerland, and grew up with two siblings in Regensberg. Even as a young girl, she felt a responsibility toward her neighbors. Her willingness to help has been expressed in various ways in her village, as helping gave her great joy even then.
Copyright: Reportage | SRF Dok
At the age of sixteen, she went to Geneva as an au pair to learn French and it was there she met the love of her life, Aziz Latrous. When he began a career abroad, through his work at Nestlé, her life changed dramatically. The young couple moved every few years for the company, specifically in Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Egypt. During these years their family grew and their three children, Selim, Sonia and Sarah, were born between 1979 and 1989. Eventually, the family relocated to Abidjan in the Ivory Coast.
Two years after moving to Abidjan, Mrs. Lotti Latrous began caring for AIDS patients at the Mother Teresa Hospital. A doctor, who provided medical care to people directly in the slums of the city, soon took Mrs. Lotti Latrous with him on his rounds. This brought her face to face with the misery and suffering of the people there. She felt a great urge to help, and so Mrs. Lotti Latrous put her heart and soul into advocating for HIV infected people as well as the dying, and to care for them with dignity. In Adjouffou, one of Abidjan’s slums, Mrs. Latrous opened the Centre L’Espoir (Center of Hope) in 1999, a center for outpatient treatment. It was later followed by a hospice for the dying and a children’s home for AIDS orphans.
AWARD CEREMONY 2022
On Wednesday, June 22, 2022, the Pahl Peace Prize was awarded to Mrs. Lotti Latrous of Swiss nationality. She is committed to helping the poorest in the slums of Grand-Bassam, Ivory Coast. She has always held the dignity of the poorest in the highest regard, has nursed them, and shone a light even in the darkest of places.
AWARD CEREMONY 2022
Copyright: Silvia Abderhalden, Verlag exclusiv
Award Ceremony 2022
VIDEO
Preisverleihung 2022