ALTERNATIVE LIVES
MIDDLE EASTERN
PROMISE
Does working abroad have unexpected benefits for you and your children?
The Summer holidays are long over and
there in September next year. Wellington is considering families in Kuwait. If the media is one’s only source then
the children are settling into the new
a sister school in Bahrain in 2010 and Brighton College one would be forgiven for thinking security is high risk.
school year. Nothing extraordinary about
has earmarked Abu Dhabi. Tradition and “Englishness” It certainly has had more than its share of conflict in the
would appear to be the selling point and there is a huge recent past and this is what colours most peoples’
that. Except this is the Middle East,
demand from the rapidly growing number of wealthy impression including those left behind.
temperatures are hovering around 45ºC,
expatriates and locals.
the humidity is very unpleasant and it is
It’s in the Middle East, two words that conjure up visions
Ramadan. Like elsewhere, parents are
John and Jill Hudson have lived and worked most of
of political tension and unrest but from the safety aspect
their lives abroad. John is a geologist with an oil company
mainly concerned about uniforms, class
there is little untoward to be concerned about. As with
and Jill currently teaches kindergarten in an international
most countries, travelling on the roads is perhaps the
lists, extra-curricular activities and getting prep school in Kuwait. Here, they each give their own
greatest risk one faces and the Kuwaitis have taken this
back into the common round.
view on life in the Middle East, the choices for education
risk to new levels, the high quality road systems are
and how a life spent abroad has affected their children.
One of the greatest concerns for families about to move
sadly not matched by driving ability. Otherwise it’s a
abroad, because of work placements, better
modern city that caters to consumerism, with numerous
opportunities or perhaps with the British Army, is how it
A father’s perspective
shopping malls, plentiful places to eat out and various
will affect their children's education. English independent “On accepting employment in Kuwait and faced with
retail outlets. Kuwait society is strongly family oriented
schools are expanding in the Gulf. Repton has already choices of education for your child, perhaps the first
and manages to successfully blend modern affluence
opened in Dubai and Oundle is opening an offshoot consideration is to assess what life is like for expatriate and conservative traditionalism.
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