Senegal wanted to honor last week, men and women who, through their lives and the strong commitments that have marked their journeys, have become examples and references for the citizens of this country, this country of which they have shares the love they have for him, deeply. Marie Louise Corréa, was elevated to the rank of Grand Cross of the National Order of the Lion, in testimony to her exemplary life in the service of our youth. Her little brother that I am honored to be, this great lady reveals to you, overcome with this unrestrained emotion.
Doctor Marie Louise Corréa: “Akéla” is still young.
It is a pleasure for me to offer you this portrait of Marie Louise Corréa, who devoted her entire life to youth, through a formative activity, namely scouting, a movement that she went through from the grassroots to her highest level of responsibility. She perfectly bears the name given to all pack leaders, AKELA, and this role suits her perfectly, she who loves so much to brood and gently direct those she loves and from whom she cannot bear not to get the most out of them. best, necessarily intimate portrait.
Marie Louise Corréa was born in Ziguinchor on November 26, 1943, to Daniel Corréa and Antoinette Carrère. His father is an educator, a teacher and above all, he lays the foundations for youth movements, which will give rise to scouting. Marie Louise Corréa will have youth and her necessary education naturally as a common thread in her social life.
At 12 years old, she was already leader of the valiant souls at the Lycée Faidherbe, before coming to continue her studies at the Lycée Van Vollenhoven, joining the JEC, and leading a pack of cubs at Dakar Cathedral, and joining the hierarchy of Senegalese Scouting, then later the authorities of the African Scout Movement.
Also important for her is the disappearance of her father, Daniel Corréa, on Thursday April 11, 1968. We are in the middle of the National Youth Week that he and others had established. President Senghor decided, because of his important functions at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, to interrupt its proceedings, as a tribute. She will inherit from her father this permanent dedication to the youth of her country.
Other milestone dates mark Marie Louise Corréa's life in the service of youth. She was at the head of Senegalese Scouting from 1983 to 1997, of African Scouting from 1992 to 1998, joined the World Scout Committee in 1999 in Durban, and served as its president from 2002 to 2005. She is the first woman and the first black woman to hold this responsibility.
At the same time, she rigorously pursued her career as a general practitioner, before being called to the government, under Abdou Diouf, as Minister of Research and Technology in 1995, and being reappointed in 1998 as Minister of Labor and the civil service.
She has already been distinguished as Commander of the National Order of the Lion of the Republic of Senegal, and Officer of the French Legion of Honor.
Apart from her father Daniel Corréa, her absolute reference, she has respect for Senghor, Abdou Diouf, Pope John Paul 2 who initiated World Youth Day, and also all those who, teachers, professors and educators who competed to his personal development. Walking in the wake of this revered father, her life dedicated to the service of youth will not prevent Marie Louise Corréa from pursuing brilliant medical studies and raising her four children as an attentive mother. It was in fact on July 13, 1976 that she obtained her state diploma as a Doctor of Medicine after a brilliant thesis completed under the direction of Professor Marc Sankalé.
The visit of Pope John Paul 2 to Dakar in 1992 will be one of his fondest memories, as much as his election to the World Scout Committee.
Marie Louise Corréa took part in the Olympic Flame Relay at the “Olympic Games” in Athens in 2004. A memory which still gives her strong emotion today.
A life of homework
His viaticum for life corresponds to the three pillars of scouting: Duties towards God, Duties towards Others, Duties towards oneself.
The thought that motivates her and which is the message she intends to deliver to young people can be summed up in four principles:
Autonomy, which offers young people a choice, Solidarity, which leads you to care about others, Responsibility, which makes you take responsibility for your own actions, Commitment, which requires you to assert yourself in relation to values.
Young Senegalese people hold in Marie Louise Corréa a beautiful icon who will have made youth a means of excellence, and who marks her so much that she eternally keeps this smile which gives her an air of perpetual youth. As they say: “Once a Scout…Always a Scout”.
