Since 1955, in accordance with the wishes of Raoul and Madeleine Follereau, the ‘Raoul Follereau Prize’ has been awarded every two years to ‘ a doctor or missionary who, through his or her work or example, has played an effective part in the battle against leprosy’.
On Thursday 28 November 2024, the prize was awarded posthumously by Mr Amin Maalouf, Permanent Secretary of the Académie Française, to Sister Joany Ravaoary, a Daughter of Charity of the Province of Madagascar.
Last July, Sister Joany died at the age of 58 of a devastating cancer. Fortunately, she had been informed of this recognition and was filled with joy.
A nurse, she was medical director of the Ampasy Health Centre, where many patients, including those with severe forms of leprosy, are treated. Clinical trials for new treatments are also carried out there. Sister Joany has also developed training programmes for carers and former patients, promoting early detection and combating the stigma of leprosy.
She knew how to use the right words to encourage parents to send their children to school, to take vocational training themselves, and to engage in income-generating activities such as livestock rearing and farming.
In this way, people can acquire a small plot of land, build a house and regain their place in society. The Province asked me to represent them at the award ceremony. She was my eldest child. For the Malagasy, the eldest child, the ‘zoky’, has the delicate task of introducing the younger children to the spirit of the family, its own culture and way of life. Sister Joany was this ‘zoky’ for me, both in terms of vocation and professional service.
Among other things, she introduced me to leprosy screening and visits to the bush.
For our Province, the choice of the Company of the Daughters of Charity as the recipient of this prize is a call to continue the path taken by Sister Joany, after many other Sisters, in the integral service of man, of all man and of all men.
Sister Fanilo FEMINASOA
