working in southern or eastern Africa

Hi,

Next year I shall finally cease to be a student and the last thing I
want to do is take a up a "proper job in the city". I've been thinking
of working abroad, possibly in Kenya or South Africa, and was wondering
if anyone had any advice: right now I know very little. I'm aware that
there are lots of volunteer organisations, but I'm thinking of staying
out there for at least 12 to 18 months so I'd rather be paid. I expect
that means I would restricted to the tourist trade (such as the safari
industry). I know that becoming a safari guide is not a job you just
walk into but something along those lines may be interesting. I also get
the feeling that coming in to that sort of thing as a foreigner may be
quite hard.

Anyone have any comments? Is volunteer work going to be the only
realistic possibility?

thanks,
Rob

In message , Rob
writes
Hi,

Next year I shall finally cease to be a student and the last thing I
want to do is take a up a "proper job in the city". I've been thinking
of working abroad, possibly in Kenya or South Africa, and was wondering
if anyone had any advice: right now I know very little. I'm aware that
there are lots of volunteer organisations, but I'm thinking of staying
out there for at least 12 to 18 months so I'd rather be paid. I expect
that means I would restricted to the tourist trade (such as the safari
industry). I know that becoming a safari guide is not a job you just
walk into but something along those lines may be interesting. I also
get the feeling that coming in to that sort of thing as a foreigner may
be quite hard.

Anyone have any comments? Is volunteer work going to be the only
realistic possibility?

thanks,
Rob
Rob,
So far nobody has replied to you so I will just give you my
experience.
I think it will be difficult for you to just go and get a job. I can
only speak about Kenya but there are quite a few Kenya born Europeans
there, most of whom work as pilots or in the tourism sector. Many work
out of their own country. I lived in Kenya for several years because my
husband worked in Kenya on large civil engineering projects. He saw
jobs advertised in Britain, usually with British companies and secured
three year contracts.
There are young people doing voluntary work, where they are given
accommodation and enough money to buy food etc. It is quite a small
amount of money though! We met some teachers who were finding it hard
to survive but they did so because they wanted to be there.
Your question is a FAQ on the Lonely Planet site. You might get some
ideas and links there.
Good luck!
Pat
--
Pat Anderson

Rob wrote in message ...
Hi,

Next year I shall finally cease to be a student and the last thing I
want to do is take a up a "proper job in the city". I've been thinking
of working abroad, possibly in Kenya or South Africa, and was wondering
if anyone had any advice: right now I know very little. I'm aware that
there are lots of volunteer organisations, but I'm thinking of staying
out there for at least 12 to 18 months so I'd rather be paid. I expect
that means I would restricted to the tourist trade (such as the safari
industry). I know that becoming a safari guide is not a job you just
walk into but something along those lines may be interesting. I also get
the feeling that coming in to that sort of thing as a foreigner may be
quite hard.

Anyone have any comments? Is volunteer work going to be the only
realistic possibility?

thanks,
Rob

Dear Rob,

I am now in my fifteenth year of living and working in East Africa. I
started in Tanzania and a few years ago, my work required I move to
Kenya.

It has always been difficult getting the proper permits to work in
both Kenya and Tanzania - just as it is difficult for most Africans to
get proper permits to work in say the USA. It might be my
imagination, but it seems even harder now.

The key to qualifying for work in East Africa is that you need to:

1. Be providing skills, qualifications and experience that are not
easily found among the citizens of that country. One of the reason
that many expats are in the tourism industry is that they have the
knowledge of the 'needs' of international visitors.

2. Have an intention of passing those skills and experiences along to
local people so that they might someday do your job.

You would find it very difficult to get a permit to work as a safari
guide as there are thousands of qualified African safari guides to
fill those jobs. If, however, you had a specialty such as a PHD in
the study of the wildlife with a specialty in the migration, (such as
Dr. Richard Estes), you could get work leading safaris and teaching
guides about the migration.

Some companies do have intern programmes where you could get work as
an administrative assistant as a 'representative of the investor'.
Foreign investors are generally allowed a couple of people to keep an
eye on their investment.

I hope this is of some help.
Gary

www.safari.cc

On Mon, 28 Jun 2004 10:33:23 +0100, Rob :

Next year I shall finally cease to be a student and the last thing I
want to do is take a up a "proper job in the city". I've been thinking
[snip]

Anyone have any comments? Is volunteer work going to be the only
realistic possibility?

You don't say what kind of student you are. If it's one of a number
of types, there are paid volunteer opportunities out there. UN
Volunteers and VSO are always looking for the right types.

I've the same kind of wanderlust you appear to be experiencing. I'd
love to find some way to go back, but just about everything I see is
geared towards people your age.


--
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(*) http://www.spots.ab.ca/~keeling
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http://learn.to/quote http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html

On 1 Jul 2004 09:54:17 -0700, Gary Balfour :

The key to qualifying for work in East Africa is that you need to:

1. Be providing skills, qualifications and experience that are not
easily found among the citizens of that country. One of the reason

2. Have an intention of passing those skills and experiences along to
local people so that they might someday do your job.

Even those may not be enough. I've thirteen years in IT. I'd love to
be over there doing exactly what you mention above. Unfortunately,
there's not many takers.


--
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(*) http://www.spots.ab.ca/~keeling
- - Spammers! http://www.spots.ab.ca/~keeling/spammers.html
http://learn.to/quote http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html

Group: rec.travel.africa Date: Mon, Jun
28, 2004, 10:33am (CDT+6) From:
(Rob)

Hi,
Next year I shall finally cease to be a
student and the last thing I want to do is
take a up a "proper job in the city".

What a lazy. Why don't you take up that job and start paying back your
momma and papa for your education. Lazy and ungrateful.


I've been thinking of working abroad,
possibly in Kenya or South Africa, and
was wondering if anyone had any
advice:

Ain't no jobs in Af'ka. Why do you think them coloreds are all here
illegally.


right now I know very little.

That's evident.

I'm aware that there are lots of volunteer
organisations, but I'm thinking of staying
out there for at least 12 to 18 months so
I'd rather be paid.

I'd rather be Pope, But it AIN'T a gonna happen. Get off your lazy bum
and get a JOB. Heaven forbid you volunteer AFTER work in your hometown
and help some local people. I guess there are NO Unfortunate, hard up
people in the UK

Some one need to buy you an alarm clock 'cause it is TIME TO WAKE UP and
live in the real world.

"s. keeling" wrote in message . ..
On 1 Jul 2004 09:54:17 -0700, Gary Balfour :

The key to qualifying for work in East Africa is that you need to:

1. Be providing skills, qualifications and experience that are not
easily found among the citizens of that country. One of the reason

2. Have an intention of passing those skills and experiences along to
local people so that they might someday do your job.

Even those may not be enough. I've thirteen years in IT. I'd love to
be over there doing exactly what you mention above. Unfortunately,
there's not many takers.

Sadly, that is a issue of economics. A good IT person gets a fairly
good salary in most parts of the world. Here in Nairobi, there are
many good IT people, who make good money by Kenyan standards - up to
$1,000.00 a month. Sadly, I don't see too many foreign IT people with
the experience needed to set them apart from the locally trained
candidates willing to work in this price range.

When requirements do exceed local expertise, many companies turn to
India where there are some brilliant programmers who will work for
bargain wages.

Cheers,
Gary

Visit www.safari.cc for a new free giraffe wallpaper with July
calendar.

What a lazy. Why don't you take up that job and start paying back your
momma and papa for your education. Lazy and ungrateful.

right now I know very little.


That's evident.


I'm aware that there are lots of volunteer
organisations, but I'm thinking of staying
out there for at least 12 to 18 months so
I'd rather be paid.


I'd rather be Pope, But it AIN'T a gonna happen. Get off your lazy bum
and get a JOB. Heaven forbid you volunteer AFTER work in your hometown
and help some local people. I guess there are NO Unfortunate, hard up
people in the UK

Some one need to buy you an alarm clock 'cause it is TIME TO WAKE UP and
live in the real world.


Yes some people do need to wake up. You're one of them. You shouldn't be
judgmental about others when you know nothing about them. I expect
you're normally this rude so I'm not expecting an apology. You might
(although I admit it's unlikely) be interested to know that I get off my
lazy bum at 7:30 every morning (weekends included) to work in a
physiology lab. It's not unusual for me to stay there until after 21:00
or even 08:00 the next day. Furthermore, my lazy ass is paid a salary
(by a private company) to do this so I do in fact have a job: I'm a
physiology PhD student working on neurological aspects of deafness.

I wrote to this newsgroup for general advice on the viability of getting
work in Africa. I want to spend over a year away and I'm not currently
paid a lot of money so financially it makes a lot more sense for me to
find paid work abroad rather than for me to pay. I wrote to this NG to
get information on the viability of doing that. Your comments were
endlessly useful for this-thank you very much.

Rob

On Wed, 07 Jul 2004 10:35:15 +0100, Rob :
[somebody:]

What a lazy. Why don't you take up that job and start paying back your

Yes some people do need to wake up. You're one of them. You shouldn't be

He's a troll, Rob. Some nitwits get their jollies out of provoking
others. There was no need for you to reply pointing out how off-base
he was. He managed that admirably all by himself.

Good luck on the hunt.


--
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(*) http://www.spots.ab.ca/~keeling
- - Spammers! http://www.spots.ab.ca/~keeling/spammers.html
http://learn.to/quote http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html

On Wed, 07 Jul 2004 10:35:15 +0100, Rob :
[somebody:]

What a lazy. Why don't you take up that job and start paying back your

Yes some people do need to wake up. You're one of them. You shouldn't be

He's a troll, Rob. Some nitwits get their jollies out of provoking
others. There was no need for you to reply pointing out how off-base
he was. He managed that admirably all by himself.

Good luck on the hunt.


--
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(*) http://www.spots.ab.ca/~keeling
- - Spammers! http://www.spots.ab.ca/~keeling/spammers.html
http://learn.to/quote http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html