Kenya.

[Vushtrri]

Anyone here been there? Both the missus and I have interviews soon for jobs there on a 2yr contract.

 

[Rambling Sid]

I was there close on 40 years ago. Climate was great, and by and large most of the peeps were friendly. I was only there for a month, but if the possibility of working there ever came up for me I would jump at it. Hope it hasn't all changed now. Swahili is a pretty easy language to learn, in fact throughout my career in the RAF I had worked with a lot of East African Asians so had a smattering of it before I went there. Like I said this information is 40 years out of date so I would definitely recommend you try and get some current gen.

 

[dumbsumpy]

I spent several weeks in Mombasa in 2002, right on the coast. The wealthy parts really are, security compounds, plush beachfront villas with private beaches etc, but the rest of the city was really (and I mean horribly) deprived, people living beside the road under sheets of corrugated steel, with their family goat tied outside. I saw people syphoning grit-filled diesel from a tanker crash just to get some light in the evening.

Having said that, the people are massively friendly, although we were told that being a big muslim country, there was a terrorism risk. To me I never felt that there was any danger to us, except when our 'scratch' cricket team lost to the Mombasa select under 15's!!

The weather was great, storms you could set your watch by in the evening, but fabulous to watch.

The locals at Mombasa airport could not do enough to help us, even going so far as to chop down loads of trees around our line hut with their machetes, as they had spotted a green mamba (snake) hiding in them. Not a job i would like while wearing shorts and flip-flops!

Overall, a lovely place but depressing to see the poverty.

Hope the interviews go well.

 

[Inevertouchedit]

Mate of mine runs the export business for a banana company (Sound like the start of a bad joke, but it's a ££££ job for him), if you've ever been to Saudi as an expat, you'll know the drill - Servants, nannies, gardeners, drivers etc, he's got a great life on the compound.

HOWEVER, off the compound, it's a different story. Constant threat of kidnap/ransom, different routes to work etc. Westerners are seen as a prized target, theory being if the Somalis next door can do it, so can we !! If the wives go shopping it's with a security guard or two in tow.

Good luck, be sure to notify your insurance company of where you're going.