At 78, she is still working. And it is just to help others. She arrived in Mauritius with the International Voluntary Service. In 1966, she joined the Mauritius Mental Association and is today its vice-chairperson…

She knows almost all about life as she has seen both the best and the worst of it. Margaret is 78 and, despite her age, can be seen as a model. Especially as she still has a lot to give and to teach to the people around her. Sha has a most beautiful smile. That smile shows so much in terms of happiness, affection and caring. But the most amazing feature about her is the fact that she is still very active.

Since 1966 Margaret started helping the Mauritius Mental Health Association (MMHA) - today, she is its vice-chairperson - she has always tried to share her vast experience with others. She comes to the MMHA as often as she can as she enjoys doing so. But Margaret has other ways of spending her time too.

“Coming here to the association is a hobby. Apart from this, I really like to do some reading and watch television. One thing I like watching is football. I am basically a Manchester City FC supporter, but the problem is that this team is not often on television. They are not good enough! I then support Liverpool when I get to watch them play! But one thing is for sure, I will never shout to cheer Manchester United!”

Although she admits to being moody at times, she knows how to make jokes. But the people in the association show a lot of respect towards her as she is a very high-profile figure.

Margaret arrived in Mauritius in 1964. She came here as a result of joining a benevolent association called Service Volontaire International. In 1965, she got married to a well-known figure in Mauritian society at that time: Régis Fanchette.

But her life was already full of events. Margaret was born on 5th December 1927 in Manchester. When she was only five, she moved to Stockport. This is where she did both her primary and secondary education. She finished school when she was only 16. But at that time, the second world war was on.

She thus decided to start working in what was called “war time nursery nursing”. Margaret basically had to look after small children up to five years old. This was due to the fact that the children’s mothers worked in factories while their fathers were in the army. It was not an easy task as she had to work six days out of seven. She did this job for around two years.

After this, Margaret moved to Liverpool to do some nursing for four years. She worked in an infectious disease hospital, because at that time diseases were very frequent. She had to deal with important diseases, such as diphtheria, tuberculosis and poliomyelitis.

“At that time, life was not easy. Medicine was not developed. Some people were dying in front of us, others could not lift their heads up… it was terrible. At that time there was no immunisation. So the only thing we could do was to give them serum.”

In 1946, she moved to London and went to King’s College Hospital. There, she did her general nursing and got her State Nursing Certificate, and went on to do her midwifery. Her certificates of achievement were far from over. From then on, she achieved even more rewards.