A School With A Heart Of GOLD

Anyone who visits MEPS is always immediately stuck by a sense of pride and curiosity when seeing the portraits of 2 women who played such a fundamental role in developing and growing MEPS to become a school of inspiration to many people within the Polokwane region. 

Many people will recognise the founding Mother of the school, Aunty Betty as she was so fondly called.  But who might the Granny with the inviting smile be?  

“Oumama”  as she was known to the Meps Learners, Educators and Family was no other than Aunty Betty’s mother, Mary Scott.  She played a pivotal role in the shaping of Myngenoegen English Private School and Betty’s Day & Night Care Centre.  

Before Meps grew into a school it started off as a Hostel and Oumama was the Hostel Mother.  A main house stood on the property, where learners aged 3-18 lived with Oumama to take care of them.  These learners were transported to the various schools within the city.

As Meps was established and the hostel was constructed, learners were housed in what we know today as the school.  Oumama was ever present throughout the process.  She believed in her daughter's dreams and in her own subtle way she supported and encouraged her all the way. 

 She was the true granny of the school, and you would often see her walking up from her apartment  to the school with lunch prepared for the office staff.  Educators and Parents alike were often invited to share an afternoon tea and scone with her on her stoep.  

She started a vegetable garden on the property which soon provided fresh, organic vegetables to the hostel on a daily basis.  This was her pride and joy and she loved taking you for a tour of her “Groot Geluk” garden as she so aptly named it.  The hostel still benefits from the garden today, which produces fresh produce for the hostel. 

With a full, rewarding life lived she sadly passed on at the age of 94 in 2013. Now, every time you walk into MEPS office and see that portrait of the granny with the purple hair, you may feel as if you are standing in front of a MEPS stalwart.