Lotti Latrous was born in Dielsdof, near Zurich in Switzerland. She grew up in Regensberg and at the age of sixteen went to Geneva as an au-pair girl to learn French. There she met Aziz from Tunisia and found love of her life. A love, which is unique in its generosity and respect for each other.

Due to Aziz Latrous’s work as director of Nestlé the family with the children Sonia, Selim and Sarah came to Abidjan, the economic metropolis of the Ivory Coast after spending times in Jeddah, Nigeria and Cairo.

After two years Lotti Latrous started to work at the hospital of Mother Teresa. The misery which she experienced there as a privileged woman with chauffeur,  chef and swimming pool inspired her to open an ambulatory in Adjouffou, one of the slums of Abidjan. This she did with the full support of her husband. Hardly the ambulatory was opened; Nestlé transferred the family to Cairo.

As Lotti Latrous wanted to carry on taking care   of
he ambulatory she made a deal with the family – she wanted to  spend two months in Cairo and one month in Abidjan. Soon it became clear that the balancing act between the ambulatory in the slum and the family in Cairo is not possible on a continuous basis and a decision has to be taken. A decision, which although hit the family and the marriage hard but didn’t break them up.

That was six years ago. Today Selim (25) and Sonia (24) live in Switzerland, Sarah (16) with her father Aziz in Cairo and Lotti in the slum of Adjouffou. Lotti Latrous travels to Cairo four times a year, if her works allows, and is also often visited by her family in Abidjan.

Lotti Latrous received the renowned Adele-Duttweiler Prize of Switzerland in 2002

The readers of the magazine “Bild” of Germany selected her as the “Lady of the Year” in December 2004.

On 8th January 2005 Swiss public elected her as the “ Lady of the Year 2004” at the yearly “Swiss Award” ceremony.