Comfort zone

Mother of three sets up website to help expatriate mums network in new places

In a country with a heavy flow of expatriates coming or leaving, many common concerns bind their needs. Access to advice and experiences on what lies in store or what mistakes to avoid facilitates the process of moving into another country.

With this thought in mind, thrice relocated and mother of three boys, Jane Drury, launched a website for 'expat mums' as it is generally the mothers who establish a network and make the family feel at home again in a new place.

"The tag line for www.expatmums.com is 'written by mums for mums' and most of the site is made up of contributions from expatriate women, of all nationalities, living all over the world," explains Drury, a professional accountant who is now a full-time mother.

"We have a 'City/Country Profile' section which contains proformas completed by mums, with information about schools, health, leisure, housing and everything you would want to know about a place before you get there, or soon after arrival. Women who are living or have lived in Delhi, Alexandria, Auckland, Perth and so on have sent these in voluntarily. They are not definitive guides. It's just a woman's viewpoint, a summary of her experience and what she thinks it would have been useful to know from the outset," elaborates Drury.

The site has sections on 'I had a Baby in…', 'Working Abroad' and 'Repatriates', for women to share their experiences." One lady wrote about doing the Teaching English as a foreign language course in Dubai, and another lady, in Yemen, then wrote to say that having read the article, she's inspired to do the same," shares Drury.

"As for having a baby abroad, pregnant women are hungry for information in normal circumstances but if you're expecting, and just about to move to Alexandria, or Milan, or Toronto, wouldn't you be pleased to read another woman's account?" asks Drury.

She is now planning to do something for charity. She and her friend Amanda Powell are looking for sponsorship for a walk along the Great Wall of China." Personally, I'm tuned in to children's charities and I met someone in London last summer canvassing for The Children's Society based in the UK. It's charity that works with young runaways in the inner cities.

It's a surprisingly big problem with reports stating that 55 children a day run away from home in the UK, with one in four of the first-time runaways being under the age of 11. The Society's helpers go out into the streets at night, find children and try to put them back on track," explains Drury.

The walk will involve five days of five hours a day of walking up and down steps. The two women plan to go at the end of April and are vigorously training for such an endurance event, which is particularly hard on the knees. "We hope to raise a minimum of Dhs 26,500 between us," say the enthusiastic women.