Job search with a belly

I found out the same week that the organisation at which I've spent the past four years of my career is running out of funding, effectively ending my contract in March. And that I'm expecting a baby. I had been thinking I was up for a change, but I was thinking more along the lines of getting a cat. Or a house plant. Well, life's full of adventures! I have loved working at GCAP; it has been an ideal fit for me; but I'm feeling increasingly positive about the idea of getting new experiences as well. GCAP's financial woes are typical of the sector at the moment; and advocacy organisations particularly. I wonder what the knock-on affects for civil society will look like in a few years time?

Job hunting when the economy is getting so much bad press is intimidating. The prospect of job hunting while 6 months pregnant equally so. I have only started the preparatory work, seeing what organisations in my line of work are hiring and updating my CV. But, it should definitely be an interesting ride. In America, many people advise you not to disclose your pregnancy during the job search, since it puts the company hiring you at risk for illegal discrimination. While such discrimination is equally illegal in South Africa, apparently after your 5th month, you are legally required to disclose your pregnancy to your potential employer (not that there would be much hiding it, in my case, unless the interviews were all telephonic....). I'm curious to see how it will be received. I certainly don't expect to be offered my dream job until after the baby is born (though I may be surprised).

Multinational Blob

Few things are more challenging then negotiating a pre-natal appointment in a foreign language. I have newfound respect for people who do this kind of thing every day. The process for figuring out how to get referrals and lab work done is intimidating, even with the help of the gynecologist next door! The 'normal' scheduling and testing routine is slightly different, which leads to initial results looking a bit 'odd' to lab technicians, always intimidating.

Perhaps the biggest lesson is that in India, it's illegal to tell expectant mothers the gender of their child, because selective abortions are so common. This means that the flavour of baby is going to remain a surprise, at the very least until I get back to South Africa. I've been assured that this doesn't have any impact on the baby shower being planned....you aren't supposed to get clothes for the baby before it is born anyway.

Blog Phase 2

Part of the reason this blog fizzled out is because my research in Lubumbashi fizzled out. I concluded that I had proposed an impossible project, and much of the last year was spent finding a way forward. All roads led to relocating my research in South Africa. While I am now restarting fieldwork closer to home, this is intimidating for a number of reasons.

I've always been quite happy with my clear status as an outsider. I can't vote, I've worked for organisations with an international focus, and I consider myself exempt from participating in public political debates. I'm interested in South Africa and try to keep across the news, but always defer to what South Africans think of South Africa.

I shifted my research here rather grudgingly, and still hadn't quite come to terms with the idea that I would now have to say things about the country that I live in. I find this changing rapidly, as I simultaneously come to terms with the reality of raising a child in one of the most unequal countries in the world. Somehow, having the well being of my (future) child tied up in this country gives me much more incentive (and legitimacy) to know more, and talk more, about what works and what doesn't.