Literature Archives - Relocation Africa

Not only can reading provide a welcome distraction from the stresses of life, but moving overseas can sometimes be made easier by reading about other people’s experiences doing the same.

Expat Nest recently asked Expat Bookshop to round up their top 10 books for expatriates for 2020. Here they are, in no particular order.

#1 Life in the Camel Lane: Embrace the Adventure

Doreen M Cumberford

(White Heather Press)

In 1995, Doreen Cumberford catapulted herself into an extraordinary adventure halfway around the world. Leaving a comfortable American lifestyle, she moved to Saudi Arabia with her husband and toddler.

A rich and rewarding read.

#2 How to Live the Good Life in France: Attaining Your French Rural Dream

Lorraine Turnbull

(Fat Sheep Press)

This practical and up-to-date book answers the common questions of relocating to rural France, including guidance on how to own animals or set up a smallholding, find and secure the right property for you, and start a rural business. Learn from others who have made the move, including the author.

If you’re dreaming of a simpler life…

#3 Death by Windmill: A Mother’s Murder in Amsterdam

Jennifer S Alderson

(Traveling Life Press)

A Mother’s Day trip to the Netherlands turns deadly when a guest plummets from a windmill. Was it an accident or a murder?

A fun thriller with a Dutch twist.

#4 Expat Partner: Staying Active & Finding Work

Carine Bormans and Marie Geukens

(Lanoo Publishers)

Can you plan your professional future as an expat partner? Can you pursue a career in your new location? What are your expectations and priorities?

Sage advice from the experts.

#5 Hanna and the Flying Carpet

Heidi Olsson

(Springtime Books)

Hanna is a girl who belongs in many places in the world, but she’s sick of goodbyes. Omar got new opportunities in a new country, but he misses his cousins. Abdi is an inventive guy who found a solution when he missed his grandma. Three kids with magic eyes on a magic adventure.

A magical multi-cultural tale for kids.

#6 Life Beyond the Castanets: My Love Affair with Spain: Book 2

Jean Roberts

(Independently published)

With their life in Spain established, Jean and Adrian look forward to an idyllic retirement. But when Mother Nature throws up formidable fires, floods and flu, their dreams, along with much of their house, are shattered.

An absorbing read for these COVID days.

#7 Raising Global Teens: A Practical Handbook for Parenting in the 21st Century

Anisha Abraham

(Summertime Publishing)

Globalization has given many of us unparalleled opportunities to work, travel, fall in love, and raise kids all over the world. But it has made being a teen more complicated than ever.

Enlightening for all parents, regardless of where you are.

#8 The Accidental Business Nomad: A Survival Guide for Working Across a Shrinking Planet

Kyle Hegarty

(Nicholas Brealey Publishing)

An unvarnished, story-driven, practical guide to working across cultures. The book features real stories of companies going global, warts and all. Each is a fascinating lesson on the cultural realities and unexpected surprises of modern globalisation.

Candid, entertaining and packed with real life stories.

#9 What About Your Saucepans?

Lindsay de Feliz gave up marriage and a successful career in the UK to follow her dreams as a scuba diving instructor in the Dominican Republic. She met and married her Dominican man and went on an incredible adventure that also had a dark side – political corruption. Lindsay tells it how it is, and in the telling her deep love for the Dominican Republic, its culture and its people shines through.

A compelling story interwoven with just the right amount of humour

#10 The Winding Road to Portugal: 20 Men from 11 Countries Share Their Stories

Louise Ross

(Moyhill Publishing)

How do men navigate life at a time fraught with great uncertainty and rapid change, working and moving country to country, on their own or with a family? Is their path easy, because they’re men, fortuned with greater liberties than women? Or do they encounter a different set of challenges, faced with the complexities of what it means to be a man today?

Clever and well-crafted book which lets the men do the talking.

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].

As part of our constant drive to give back to our community, our team has endeavored to join together to participate in a monthly community-focused CSR initiative. The team comes together each month to participate in an activity aimed at uplifting the community around our head office in Cape Town, after which ideas are put forward for the following month’s initiative.

In this way, as South Africans, we are giving back not only on Mandela Day, but throughout the year, as the need doesn’t end after the holiday.

Naturally, we take all necessary COVID-19-related precautions when participating in the activities, so as to ensure the health and safety of our team members and those we are interacting with outside our office.

For our third month, in November 2020, we came together to collect books, with the theme of ‘Literature & Education are Vital’. We invited our neighbors to join us in collecting books they no longer needed, and dropping them off at our office’s reception. We then handed them over to charity Help the Rural Child.

Help the Rural Child is a chain of charity shops that support the Goedgedacht Path Onto Prosperity Rural Youth Centres. Help the Rural Child, through its charity shops, is doing its bit to help these children break out of the endless cycles of poverty that have trapped their parents for so many generations. Help the Rural Child has nine shops at present: two bookshops, one in Mowbray and one in Kirstenhof; four clothing and bric a brac shops in Mowbray, Retreat, Sea Point and Cape Town CBD; a furniture shops in Retreat and a Mobile Bookshop that goes out to schools. Their newest edition, connected to the Mobile Bookshop, is The Children’s Bookshop in Mowbray.

Their shops are all run with two staff members and a wonderful group of volunteers. All the stock of books, bric-a-brac, clothing, furniture and household goods are donated by the very supportive Cape Town public. We are pleased that we could be part of one of these donations.

Gallery

We hope this inspires our readers and other companies to start similar initiatives, as if we all work together, we can greatly improve the quality of life of those in need around us.