Some people are born great, some have greatness thrust upon them, and some achieve greatness. Michel Samoisy hailed from a very trying background within a large family. Like the shepherd’s son, he spent the first four years of his infancy at his grandmother’s. Back home, his parents made of him a “clandestine” at the Sainte Thérèse de l’Enfant Jésus Roman Catholic Aided School in Rivière-Cocos, Rodrigues, being underage. A twist of events brought Michel to L’École du Saint-Esprit in La Ferme, which he left a year later to go back to Rivière-Cocos. But these changes did not hamper his education.

It was not given for Michel to go straight to a secondary school. The world of work opened its arms in a retail shop as a salesboy, then as a ‘marqueur’ on the port to count the goods on board the MV Mauritius. His bosses were Chue-Tive, Chue-Him and Claude Raboude of another thriving business. Michel had had a taste of hardship, but his youth energy and the necessity to help the family heightened his daunting spirits. Nothing is permanent, Michel says.

He had a tryst with destiny when Mr Claude Obeegadoo or Mr Régis Obeegadoo (Michel does not recall, but he has respect for them) opened the Collège St Louis in Port-Mathurin in 1962. He had schooling up to 1965, when he seized the opportunity of a training as Pupil Teacher for the primary schools. Subsequently, he completed the training to qualify for the post of Student Teacher in 1966. He joined the Teachers Training College in Mauritius to learn pedagogy, psychology, mathematics, teaching techniques, languages, mainly English and French, contents and methods.

He missed a few marks in one subject and gave an awe-inspiring reaction to Mr Charles Cure, the Principal: “Monsieur, kouma kapav nou inn gore lerla osi nou inn fail?” How come we have failed although we have copied from the sheets of the classmate sitting aside? Once qualified, Michel travelled back with his student’s lock, stock and barrel, and more importantly a Teachers’ Training College Certificate. This certification carried him from the position to that of Deputy Headmaster. All along he had been constructing his world: strong family ties, professional engagement, and social commitment towards his fellow Rodriguans.

Among Michel’s first actions as a voluntary social worker was to question an illogical situation whereby carers’ allowance was not an applicable measure, and the half-fare tariffs for older bus travellers as well. His move attracted the attention of two important personalities, Mrs Edmée Lavigilante, a renowned community social worker through the Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne, and Mrs Denyse Volbert de Chantilly, the first Chairperson of the Senior Citizens Council and Board Member of MACOSS. They encouraged Michel to set up associations of older persons in Rodrigues, the first of which were the Marangou and Le Sage Associations des Personnes Âgées.

Such associations were incepted in appreciable number. Ultimately, Michel became a Liaison Officer, reporting on a regular basis and attending yearly meetings in Mauritius. His close collaborators included Mrs MarieThérèse Baptiste and Ms Didianne Prudence, all dedicated to serve older persons. In a similar context, he joined Dr Pascale Dinan, geriatric practitioner, in the setting up of the Fédération Internationale des Associations des Personnes Âgées branch in the island. That was in 2018.

Indeed, Michel embodies a wide range of skills, thriving in different roles. It has been over seven decades that Michel has not retired from being an assertive leader in all simplicity, walking his way uphill, downhill, upfront. Today he presides over the Federation of Associations of Older Persons in Rodrigues. He was very young when he inspired and launched the L’Espérance No 1 Senior Citizens Association in his village of Rivière-Cocos, which was among the 23 associations to form the Federation in 1991. Further, he has endeavoured with fellow villagers the opening of a Community Centre, the construction of a football ground, and the provision of a cemetery in Rivière-Cocos.

From where does Michel find the time and how does he generate the energy he deserves? He is a cattle farmer, rears pigs, raises chickens, ducks and turkeys. He grows seasonal crops with the favour of the rainfall. He explains he has a disciplined diet; walking long kilometres is evidence. The calm of Rivière-Cocos in an afternoon sunset is everything but a postcard. It is nature, the grass, the valley and beyond the sea, and in the distance another abode of some farmer or fisherman. In front of this view, he plays his accordion. There is no secret to his lifestyle.

The greatness he has achieved is his own doing. And in that process, he has had the love, support and encouragement of his wife, Mijeanne.