Moving to Cebu

Hi Stephanie. Welcome.

There are positives and negatives here, as with most places. On the one hand the Filipinos love children, and caregivers and home help are cheap to hire. No one will shoot up the school like happens in the US. Medical care is very reasonably priced, and professional level if you go to a major private facility, like Chong Hua, Cebu Doctor's Hospital, or Perpetual Succor.

On the other hand, the public schools are lacking so your children will need to be in private schools which can vary from reasonably priced to expensive. The city is dirty, congested and polluted. There are not very many parks suitable for kids. Traffic is horrendous and there is no light rail, so getting places takes a lot of time by car or even longer by jeepney.

Honestly it would not be my first choice of an area to raise children, but millions of Filipinos manage fine. Education is important to me so we live in a complex comprised mostly of expats and successful business people. The parents are well-educated and so are their kids, which is good for our kids. So it's possible to make it work.

Thank you very much for your candid advise. I care more about a clean and happy environment then I do about education. Thank you

Thank you for your advise. Believe me, it wouldn’t be a culture shock, I have lived in China, Middle East and now Cambodia. But I definitely will not raise children there. My husband loved diving near Cebu but that’s it. Also ‘home’ for me is not malls and brands, maybe you have a strong idea of what a westerner is but it’s not me, I am Buddhist.

I will take your advise and not move to Cebu. Thank you