Job Discussion Forums

[mistral]

I've just arrived back in Kabul, not as an English teacher thank God. I wouldn't advise anybody to come here, especially if you've never experienced life in the "danger zone".

The jobs at Kabul University and AUAF are nothing like the advert. It's all carefully crafted window dressing. Both places have got through loads "consultants" and "lecturers" (= language teachers) paid to lend a helping hand to Afghan teachers who are perfectly capable of doing the job without USAID/WB Inc. who measure their success by the cash they put into a project, not by what the Afghans get out of it.

At KU and AUAF the pay is high but well below what NGOs and aid organizations pay, which is around $8 to $9K, food and accommodation or $100 living allowance per day, 3 paid breaks including flights, pension schemes etc. etc. Don't come here for anything less!!

When you're not at work you'll be locked down in "secure" shared accommodation. As for security, AUAF drive their teachers to work at the same time along the same road every day. I don't think KU provide accommodation or transport. You're not included in the "budget".

AT AUAF they'll only take you out shopping to the overpriced American style supermarkets. Food prices have gone through the roof! A meal in a restaurant will set you back at least twice what you'd pay in the States. You can get alcohol. Beer goes for $8, spirits over $10!

Security: There have been two kidnappings in Kabul this month. It's big business here. Both were kept out of the media until they were released, i.e. somebody came up with the cash.

Take a look at the previous posts from teachers doing time here.

[readytotravel]

I know people in Kabul who have taught at AUAf and seemed satisfied. Afghanistan is a beautiful country with extraordinary people. I would encourage anyone with fortitude to work there. They need all the help they can get. My sources on the ground say a disgruntled ex- teacher is doing all they can to discredit AUAf because she was fired and actually escorted to the airport. Afghanistan isn't for everyone.

[dime a dozen]

readytotravel; you have been misinformed.

First, the teacher escorted to the airport was a man, not a woman.

At the same time, note well that AUAf does in fact ships out teachers. Can you find out for us, readytotravel, how many forced departures from AUAf have there actually been and how many of these have had any due process? Please let us know.

Meanwhile, let me warn any teachers looking at AUAf that HR has no value there. Anybody thinking of going into this war-zone to work for such an institution that has utter contempt for its English teachers really needs to be warned and completely informed because it can be a matter of life or death. It's not that these administrators just don't care, it's that they actually don't like English teachers and are hostile.

Also note that AUAf management doesn't want the do-good philanthropists you are appealling to, readytotravel; would you like me to refer you to a specific internet source that says there is no place there for such? I would be happy to help out since you really need to know more about what you are posting.

[mistral]

Indeed there are teachers who are "satisfied" with life at auaf. AUAF and KU staff like to recruit ageing teflers who are well past their expiry date. Judging by the current crowd - who I saw a couple of days back - a total lack of dress sense gets you the job. Teachers like that don't complain because they're unemployable anywhere else.

The "academics" as they call themselves at AUAF and KU rate EL teachers a rung above the cleaning staff.

Yes, Afghans do need all the help they can get, but not from that crowd. Most teachers earn over $4000. Afghan teachers get around $200. Don't kid yourself they've any respect for the foreigners they forced to work along side.

[readytotravel]

You sound bitter, mistral. No doubt there is more to this than can be seen from your version.

[mistral]

I'm not bitter at all. Education projects financed from outside the country are a joke. I'd never get involved. Seeing foreign teachers earning so much for doing so little sickens a lot of Afghans working in education in Kabul. Don't kid yourself you're "making a difference". You aren't.

USAID/WB Inc. should be using local educationalists to get the country back on it's feet. There are plenty of English speakers without a job in Kabul. Parachuting in teachers from the US is pointless.

[dime a dozen]

readytotravel; I asked a couple of questions, but no answer.

In the first place, it looks like you really don't know anything about the topic, and in the second place you are compensating for lack of content by descending to personal shots (re ...bitter...).

In the context of this discussion board's purpose, try to contribute more meaningfully, please.

Regarding AUAf, I would really like to know the specific details of what you have been told. I am interested because there is, in fact, quite a bit of misinformation circulating; for example, when a group of AUAf English teachers didn't get contract renewals last June, the explanation presented to the AUAf BoT was that those teachers were dependant on drugs and alcohol; this was a lie, of course.

So, readytotravel, could you please tell us something more about teaching English at the American University of Afghanistan? Is it still a case of the admin giving responsibility to teachers while removing their authority, then admin presuming authority without providing leadership, then the persecution of any teachers who assume good organisational citizenship and suggest a better way of doing things?

readytotravel, I charge you with finding out the answer to the above questions (and while you're at it, two more, can you tell us who said "I'd rather talk o the Taliban than an English teacher!" and what position does that person now hold at AUAf?).

(mistral: I don't agree with all that you write, but respectfully accept your experience and opinions. RE "a total lack of dress sense gets you the job." Oh dear! I wonder if it was my scruffy old husband disgracing himself yet again. He was in and out of KU over recent days. Sigh.)

[eslbiz]

I welcome opinions based on experience from anyone who is working or has worked in Afghanistan.

I am planning to show up in Kabul and look for any white-collar job that pays over US$4000 a month and includes accommodation. My motive is purely financial.

One reads of working class Englishmen showing up and getting well-paid jobs in bars. I've worked as a teacher and done well at it, but I expect there are better paid non-martial roles.

My experience in another danger zone in the nineties is that despite what qualifications are asked for in ads online, everything changes when one shows up, walks the walk and talks the talk (and is properly dressed).

What are my prospects at finding cash work in Kabul or the provinces?

[sheikh radlinrol]

[Stephen Jones]

[eslbiz]

My post was not a joke. My experience in Cambodia was that when people are afraid to go to a country, either as workers or tourists, wages go up. If there is a demand for UN (tax-payer paid) and soldier (tax-payer paid) or other workers (management is still a kind of work), those bold enough to work in unpopular countries are paid astronomical salaries. I know this from observation during UNTAC (although hotels and restaurant emeals doubled, other things were good value, and pay was in hard currency).

The ideal time, in my opinion, to be in a third world country is after the major military conflict is over, but people are not up-to-date with what is really going on. The public erroneously THINKS a place is dangerous, based on old news. 'Yes, mother, there are tanks in the streets... in another part of town. Yawn.'

So I am researching agreeable hell-holes of bad food, some risk of assault/murder, and poor infrastructure. Why? My motivation is not to have fun, but to save money. I'm tired of making a meager wage as an ESL teacher. I was shocked to learn that even 'volunteers' of NGOs working in Phnom Penh way past hardship pay-worthy wages were earning $1000 a month to work part-time. I'm a cynic about such 'humanitarian' organizations. I'm a *beep*.

BTW, snuff movies were a fiction created by yellow journalists.

[johnslat]

Dear eslbiz,

You're right abut the snuff films - with this possible (and accidental) exception: the famous Zapruder film, in which President Kennedy is assassinated.

Regards,
John

[Stephen Jones]

[eslbiz]

Thank you for your useful leads and sensible comments. Indeed I am not qualified - which is why I am looking for a job where my passport, face and native language ability gets me in the door. And my willingness to live in a less than desirable location. Naturally, when people were afraid to visit, let alone work, in Cambodia the wages at the decent school I worked at were 30% more and they hired suitable candidates on the spot. Now ages have depressed and they prefer to hire overseas in Australia etc.

I continue to research Afghanistan for lucrative ESL and other work, but I expect I will have just to go there. Buddhist/Christian countries near the ocean are much more appealing, but my goal is financing family medical needs, not living the life of Riley.

I welcome any input from persons living in Afghanistan.

Happy new year

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

Well, I've kinda been sitting back and watching how this thread goes. My TCW may not be much appreciated by the OP, but take it from someone who's had two former compounds attacked, bombed and people he knew...well...slaughtered. And, we lived on the "most secure" of those attacked.

English is NOT something to die for...

NCTBA