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Nairobi job offer - help!

4 replies

maybekaribu · 23/07/2026 13:22

I'm considering a potential job offer in Nairobi and I need help please!
Job would be in Gigiri, well paid with decent expat package (covering most school fees) and a good career move for me.
We'd be moving with a 12 year old DD. DH can work from anywhere with good wifi so he's mobile.
I like a lot of things about Nairobi but, honestly, the security/crime situation really scares me. We aren't in the UK now but live in a big city in a developing country but one that is very safe, even safer than big cities in the UK. We've never lived in a high crime place like Nairobi and I'm especially worried about this impacts on life for teens. Right now, my DD comes home from school independently, can go out in the neighbourhood and to the mall and I don't worry at all about personal safety. I worry she'd lose her independence and wonder what life is like for teens/tweens in this kind of environemnt.
From what I can see, ISK would be the best fit as she is already in the international school/IB kind of route.
Any advice on this? How dangerous is Nairobi really and how is life for teens?
Obviously I'd love the career move but wouldn't want to do it at the expense of my family's happiness and wellbeing.

OP posts:
redmapleleaves1 · Yesterday 14:58

Hi I can see its been 3 weeks and you've likely made your decision. I and my family (children then 6 and 10) lived in Nairobi for 4 years, but came back 13+ years ago. When we came back to UK our eldest was 14. I'm guessing lots has changed, but treat this as historic.

I'm guessing you'll be at the UN? ISK is a good choice of school, or was then. You don't want to pick somewhere in a long commute away, as the traffic can be nightmarish in the rains.

Our children had been used to going independently to the park and corner shops before we went to Kenya, and this was a big constraint when we were there. It also depends on your personal attitude to risk, and many (Kenyan) families were far laxer, but we were attached to an embassy, and got very direct security briefings. When my oldest got their first boyfriend and wanted to hang out independently in the mall with them, I set up shop elsewhere in the (large, Village Market) mall for hours, drinking coffee, so I'd be close in case of a security alert. This may seem over alarmist, but 6 months later was the Westgate attack.

We had guards, and escort vehicles to come back at night, and a safe room. It took getting used to, and by the time we left 16 friends had been held at gunpoint, etc. That said, road safety is the biggest risk, and you do adapt, and if you have good security (which you would from UN), and treat guards/staff well, the risks are much reduced.

One of the other things to be aware of is being next to peers who are from multimillionaire families, and attitudes formed then, eg teenagers having drivers at their disposal to get them pizzas at school at lunchtime, conspicious consumption. That said, we found being clear, this isn't how we do things in our family, or, this isn't how it'll be when you're back in Britain, so you're making your bed yourself, worked fine. And as you'd expect there was a broad range of income, we weren't the only ones.

It was a big transition for our children coming back, particularly the then 11 year old. They'd been in a Kenyan British-curriculum school. It has given us all very vivid experiences/world views/sense of comparison/friendships and some amazing holidays, which I'm grateful for in a lifetime, but the challenges aren't to be underestimated. On the other hand you forge deep friendships very fast, and overall, I'm very grateful to have had those 4 years there, as are our children.

Good luck. Hopefully you've found someone who is there now to ask, but do pm me if I can help more, though I'm really conscious how out of date I am.

maybekaribu · Today 08:27

Thank you so much. Actually no decision yet. You guessed my employer and as you know the wheels move very slowly. But once shortlisted, it's a realistic option but not one I am 100% sure about. The idea of being help up at gunpoint is terrifying!

OP posts:
BwanaMakubwa · Today 08:42

Hi
My time in Nairobi is even longer ago, but we left Kenya when my mother was stopped at a police checkpoint and myself and my two younger siblings were removed from the car and held at gunpoint whilst the car was "searched" and items (ordinary shopping) "confiscated". Mum got PTSD after this incident.

However we were living as an ordinary expat family without any security - my father being a white Kenyan.

We subsequently went to Namibia which felt an awful lot safer.

redmapleleaves1 · Today 11:07

PS I've been remembering overnight, and reread that your DD is 12. I feel, moving near that stage, we did more together as a family for a few years longer than we would have done in UK - partly due to lifestyle there, partly as we had more spare cash in Kenya. Lots of camping trips, outdoor pursuits and family challenges. The schools organise lots too, eg expeditions, bike orienteering challenges, so it isn't that children don't have freedom. And our 10 year old son had far more freedom in some ways, roaming with a friend barefoot all day. But the freedom ours had wasn't in urban Nairobi. So partly I think its worth considering how far you are outdoorsy/have interest to get outdoorsy as a family, or if another camping trip with whitewater rafting and birdwatching would be a worst nightmare.

On the other hand we did make that up in trips to other cities (we were much more relaxed everywhere else in Kenya than Nairobi), and abroad.

Finally with the security, you do get training and you learn from others. I am remembering now eg whenever we had visitors, I then trained them on day one how to behave if we were carjacked. E.g have a keyword, keep calm, look down, don't look them in the face, obvious movements particularly when taking seatbelt off. We practised this with the children, so it wasn't something they'd be worried about if it did happen. From small town UK it feels another world away, but we, and our visitors, did adapt.

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