Hi there,
I am an American expat in Australia looking to move to Namibia. I grew up in New York but have been living in Aus for the last 2.5 years working towards a PhD in chemical engineering. My partner is Danish and also finishing up a PhD in Denmark. He's been offered a position at the polytechnic university in Windhoek. My passion is to work with children and I have always wanted to work with orphans/at risk children in developing countries. This opportunity is the most ideal situation possible.
I still have roughly 1 more year left of my PhD. We are thinking about making the move after I graduate but we would like to start planning early for visas etc.
We aren't necessarily looking to save any money during the year. I can't find much info on cost of living or websites for house rentals so I have no idea if that is a decent salary for two people to live off of.
Also, would it be hard to get a visa for myself if we aren't married? His contact at the university said I might be able to have a part time job teaching (which I'm not sure I want to do). She also mentioned other potential jobs working within the community. Honestly though, I want nothing more than to feed, wash, cuddle, and put smiles on the faces of some kids who need some attention and love. I also plan to do some fundraising in my home countries to fill any gaps in need.
I'm hoping some people have information on cost of living (a 2-3 br house in a safe part of town that is close to shops etc) and the cost of owning a car and insurance. Also potentially bringing our cat? Any websites that are good for answering these types of questions?
If anyone has any information on orphanages or children's homes in the city I would be very grateful for some leads. There isn't too much information on the web-- I presume most of these places are too busy to maintain websites!