darren hughes

phew!, well , thanks pablo for your advise. true its not what i want to hear, but if thats how it is, i have o face reality.yes still doing the research, nothing like people who have been there and done it.looks like i may need a rethink. i think though that cape town is nowhere near as bad as joburg from what i hear in terms of crime. but still, we need to earn to while we are out there and if thats not going to happen, then we will have to rethink. thanks

Pablo

Darren, like I say, don't believe just one person's view. Do your own research. But do yourself a favour, keep the longing-for-the-sun emotion out of it and make a *rational* decision one way or the other. I know it's hard to do. But try.

On crime, others here will probably know the figures, but I think that Cape Town has now *overtaken* Joburg. But I may be wrong. Again, the stats are there on the web (somewhere) so you can check for yourself.

I still have (many) friends in SA. None of them are dead yet. You can survive, but it's a mindset change. Here in the UK you think you have it rough if you get burgled and lose the DVD player. In SA you have it rough if you're gangraped and left with aids. (And that's before they even get to your girlfriend!)

A dear friend of mine and her husband recently went back to SA. She's a potter. He's a photographer. Self employed, so no affirmative action nonsense. She's happy. But she's living in Underberg, one of the remotest places on the planet. But even she got depressed recently when a photographer friend of her husband was murdered in Joburg (in Braamfontein). They killed him for his mobile phone.

But hey. If you are prepared to take the risks, you can have fun in SA. It's ALIVE (so long as your not dead, of course) and it's AFRICA! Big skies. The smell of the earth. Thunderstorms like the end of the world. Everyone who's lived there misses it sometimes.

Best wishes

P

Pablo

... Actually, Darren, come to think of it, why don't you ask that Stuart James to offer you or your girlfriend a job in his Cape Town business?

Come on Stuart. Play the white man and all that. Help the guy. You can always employ him illegally.

P

darren hughes

yea come on stuart, whats the deal! lol!!. in all seriousness, i apreciate all views. my girlfriend has been out to cape town, in fact her uncle has just retired there from joberg. non of them have mentioned that it can be that bad!. as for the uk, it has its bad side like everywhere else, but in essence its a fantastic country, and i feel very lucky to live without fear of being shot or mugged. i live in a relativly good part of manchester, but i grew up in the worst!, even then you can walk the streets at night on your own!.and yes i am listening to everyone and getting a broad opinion, from my research so far, it seems like it will be an imposibility to get a work permit. i have the fees for my flying course, my rent for the year and enough to buy a car. we are still going to have to earn a little to get by and pay the odd thing back home. we might find some local cash work.

Campbells

Hey Pablo, Good advice there & I 2nd that !! Maybe its the big attraction of doing PPL in SA for Darren but needs to look at the cost of life !!!

A very common saying in Africa, " life is cheap" and none saying is truer.

Bottom line is here is that these forums can be roton source of info & I have just experinced that with NZ. THis country is AWESOME and yes I have only been here nearly three weeks but it is not the kak place other folk posted (mainly Brits & is why they are known as the Whining Poms !) this is a very cool place.

I'd better hope to te other site now, NZ to catch up my postings there

Darren, do te homework mate and if you value your partner check out how she feels about some of the rape crimes in SA ?? Not kidding mate

SA is still a great country it is just what is going on there that is sinking it

Have a great weekend all

Cheers

Campbell

darren hughes

thanks mate. realise its a lovely country, but i would be stupid to ignore the prospect of my girlfriend being raped!, doesnt bare thinking about. i was under the illusion that there isnt much crime in cape town compared to the rest of the big cities?. sems like i could be wrong. i wanted to stay on to do my commercial licence, you say the cost of living is cheap, but how cheap?

Pablo

Cost of living. Rough examples. Rent, say R5000 per month. Other day to day basics, say between R5000 to R7000 per month. This is not including medical aid. If you take full medical cover you're looking at.. phew... I can't remember exactly; say R1000 per person per month. You don't have to have medical cover, but you really, really don't want to end up in a state hospital.

Cape Town property isn't cheap, and, as you may know, there are also some really shit areas of Cape Town (the bits that don't appear in the colour supplements).

Loads of South Africans want to live in CT, just as Americans want to live in California. So there's huge competition for jobs - even before you get into the whole affirmative action question.

Of course you could go somewhere else in SA and do your PPL (does Port Alfred still do PPLs?) and live like a church-mouse.

One thing you'll realise pretty quickly if you're there is that you really CANNOT afford to skimp on personal security.

SA is not as cheap as it was - partly this is because the rand is overvalued. Property used to be very cheap. It's not any longer (though it's cheaper than the UK - but what isn't?)

Mobile phone service ("cell phones" in SA) are pretty expensive. So are normal phones, and any sort of internet access.

Petrol is cheap. About 27p a litre, I think. Booze is cheap. Eating out in restaurants is cheap. That's why all the Brit holiday makers rave about it.

Guns are cheap. Last I heard, you could get an AK47 in Soweto for about R50. But I guess you won't be buying one of those.

Others can probably give you a better idea of prices, but there's something to go on.

Oh, one other thing. Don't expect to pick up casual cash-in-hand menial work. Remember the unemployment rate in SA is about 30%. So there's a long queue for unskilled work, and anything skilled won't be cash in hand (unless our Stuart James can fix you up with something dodgy).

Best,

P

Campbells

By that I mean the SA Rand to the GB Pound & that only. We moved to CT in 99 & lasted a year as it was so expensive compared to Jhb. Salaries in CT for me compared to Jhb = 1/4 & I proved that (just in case Stuart comes back).

Propoert then was two - three times more than Jhb.

SA is getting more & more expensive to live (talking about earning SAR & spend) things just go up & up all the time. THe school we earmarket for our son in Fourways just gone up 22% food on ave goes up 15 - 20% p/a, etc etc. Fuel goes up 2-3 times a year & so does everything else (except salaries, asl Pablo he was in recruitment).

But, SA is still a great country, but the shit going down there, not for me. For you, if you do go, get streetwise for SA ASAP & in particular your lady as it is no joke. One campaign for SA is "South Africa, a country alive with possibilities", no words truer spoken.

Chhers & hope it works out for you but do the homework

Campbell

darren hughes

thanks mate. reality check time i think. i have the cash to do my flight training for a year, my rent for a year and enough to maybe pay for a small car. but we still have to live!, and if there is no prospect of work then im gonna have to look elsewhere. as i said, my partner is a operations director for a uk company but would have been hapy doing bar work!. i know know thats not going to hapen and i have been a little naieve!, thanks for all your comments guys, given me plenty to thik about, im looking at austrailia as we speak!, should be easier to get work and visas, especially if you are putting a lot of money into the economy, let me tell you, this flight training aint cheap!, saved my ass off for years!.take it easy guys...wishing you all well.

xJenniex

You can learn to fly in Panama too.
Great country & pretty cheap too.
By-the-way of nothing

darren hughes

panama you say, thanks for that, not a place i would have thought of.

Campbells

You looked at NZ ?? I've been here 3 weeks (busy with job hunt) & this is GREAT place, I hear cheaper than Aus so maybe for your training. THere is a very friendly Kiwiw, Kiwijetpilot (comm pilot ex UK) who should be able to help on that note. I would look at here as you can at least enjoy (safely) whilst here. Anything I can do to help, no prob.

Oh yes, PLENTY jobs here, lowest unemploy for 20 odd years.

Good Luck

Campbell

G'Day

Cape Town has more crime that any other city in SA according to the SA police stats. A woman is raped every 30 second in SA. The average rape in SA is a gang rape.

kiwichild

If I was you I'd get my ass off to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, or the US.
It will be safer there by all accounts.

JMP

New to this thread, and followed it with interest. I have been in the UK for six weeks now. Will be back in S.A. for 4 days end April to fetch the mrs. So far London has been heaven in comparison, and this from an Afrikaans speaking expat. I have spoken more Afrikaans in the UK the past 6 weeks than I did in S.A. the past 6 months! The reason for being here? Very simple, I couldn't get work in S.A., not even an interview. In the UK it was a fist fight to have me in the office. I'm not sorry I came over here, and I DO walk in Brixton after sunset without the faintest fear, even at "grotty" BR stations.