Marie-Thérèse Houphouët-Boigny
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2006) |
Marie-Thérèse Houphouët-Boigny (* 1931) was the First Lady of the Ivory Coast from 1960 to 1993. Her husband was Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the first President of Côte d'Ivoire.
She was one of six children, and was educated and living in France where she met Félix Houphouët-Boigny, some 25 years older than her and then married.
Houphouët-Boigny caught the eye of the media as a woman of beauty and grace after a 1962 visit to the Kennedy White House, and was dubbed "Africa's Jackie" by a starstruck media.[1]
In 1987, while still First Lady, she founded the N'Daya International Foundation, dedicated to improving the health, welfare, and eduation of chilren in Africa. As the Foundation's president, she lead numerous projects in support of children.
In 1990, she helped create and produce a cartoon, "Kimboo," to offer cartoon heroes to African children.
Félix and Marie-Thérèse had three children together.
[edit] References and notes
- ^ "Reigning Beauties," Time Magazine, June 8, 1962, available at [1].
