Residents, Omer and Maddy Mees are a Belgian couple who grew up in the same village. Their fathers worked together. Omer volunteered at the local library and Maddy and her friends used to go there on Sundays to read books. Although her friend had her eye on Omer, it was Maddy who snared him. Now very happily retired and settled at The Somerset, they love their new life here and the interesting residents they interact with. They’re avid theatre-goers; love going to new wine farms and are always exploring new venues and activities.
Omer pursued a career as an exploration geologist, spending his entire professional life on the African continent. From Liberia to various regions in West, Central, East, and Southern Africa, the Mees couple became accustomed to residing in wild and untamed locations. Their daughter was even born in a mission hospital in Sierra Leone, managed by South Americans. Exploration geology involves the search for potential mining sites, encompassing precious resources such as gold, platinum, iron ore, and diamonds. Omer’s work also involved early contributions to dams in the Highlands Water Project, notably the Katse Dam in Lesotho – a colossal double curvature dam, the second biggest of its kind in Africa.
Maddy supported her husband in much of his work on the African continent and loved meeting and interacting with the many different people and cultures, while schooling their daughter in Johannesburg, she immersed herself in new and innovative ways of marketing insurance products.
“Once you’ve tasted the waters of Africa you will always go back to it,” says Maddy. They are enamoured with the continent and its people, and have no plans to go back to Belgium. And why should they when they’re having so much fun in Somerset West?
Pictured below is Omer and Maddy on the day they moved into The Somerset and at our recent end-of-year Denim and Diamonds function held in the clubhouse.
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