#非洲工作##出国务工##黑中介##毕业后小语种就业前景怎么样?##人物故事#
This is the 3,685th real story we have told
My name is Wang Lingling, and I was born in 1994 in an ordinary family in Poyang County, Jiangxi Province. When I was admitted to university, I chose to major in French in a daze, hoping to live the life of a city beauty that I have longed for since I was a child.
Unexpectedly, I didn't go to Paris, France after graduation, but I went to Africa, the most backward country, and almost fell into a big pit. After many years of going around and around, he is now earning a salary in one of the least developed regions of the world, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which is unimaginable in the country.
(Live happily in a foreign land)
I'm the second oldest in the family, with an older sister and younger brother. My sister and brother have a good relationship, and I am the one who learns best, so my parents are more strict with me. As a child from an ordinary family, I know that there is no other way to go except studying, so I have been working hard in terms of learning.
When I was a child, I used to see pictures of girls working in big cities on TV and in magazines, and at that time, they were all called "urban beauties". Seeing how beautiful and confident they looked, I especially wished that I could live like this when I grew up.
In 2013, I was admitted to a university in Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province. At that time, when I chose a major, I didn't know and recognize the job and major, and I didn't think too much, but I heard that after learning a small language, it would be good to get a job and the salary would be high, and I didn't want to learn English with the big stream, so I chose French. It was this choice that opened the door for me to go abroad.
(Going to Milan with friends)
During my college years, I basically started learning French from zero, but at first I found it very difficult, and I was always worried about what I would do if I couldn't learn it and couldn't finish my studies. In addition, my relatives and friends were not optimistic about my major, and felt that there were too few employment opportunities for girls to learn this small language, so at that time, I was not confident about the future at all.
Compared with the colorful lives of my roommates, I seem to be very homely, except for classes, I catch up on dramas and variety shows in the dormitory, occasionally go shopping, and do not participate in any club and student union activities. Looking back on those years now, it was really a simple and confused youth.
Whether you're ready or not, time flies by, and graduation season is still here.
(Graduated in June 2017)
On the eve of graduation, we began to listen to the advice of the teachers and the employment experience of the seniors. To my surprise, the French job they recommended was not Paris, France, the romantic capital, but Africa.
The seniors all said that when they went to Africa, the company was full of food and accommodation, a car when they went out, and the company was equipped with a security nanny, and the salary was very high, with 1-2 months of paid annual leave every year. Oh my God, there's such a good job, but can I do it?
At first, I didn't want to go abroad and felt scared. But the family said that if you can't find a job in China, you might as well go to Africa, if there is a big company, the work is not tiring, and the salary is about the same.
After struggling for a while and comparing the employment market and salary levels in China, I finally made a decision: to go to Africa.
(Real scenes from Africa)
At that time, the school organized many campus job fairs, but there were many good units such as listed companies and state-owned enterprises. The salary of state-owned enterprises is lower, with an annual salary of 100,000 yuan, and finally I chose a large listed company with an annual salary of 120,000 yuan, and the place of work is the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
In June 2017, I graduated successfully, and in July I packed my bags and went to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Africa.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, referred to as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is located in central Africa, bordering Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania to the east, Zambia and Angola to the south, South Sudan and Central Africa to the north, and Congo (Brazzaville) across the Congo River to the west.
(Dinner at the Democratic Republic of the Congo in July 2017)
It is one of the least developed countries in the world as declared by the United Nations. The economy is dominated by agriculture and mining, and industry is still in an extremely underdeveloped stage.
My first company was a large property company, and I worked in the human resources department and the general management department in the project department of Yege Mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Most of the girls' work is housekeeping, and there are many complicated and detailed tasks, and there are few places where French is used.
After work, I found that what I learned in school was not enough, which was equivalent to dumb French, and I could only formally exercise my speaking ability after work.
When I first went abroad, I was actually a little uncomfortable, but fortunately, we worked in a very good working environment in the mining company. There are several chefs in the staff cafeteria, three sumptuous meals a day, and the dormitory is equipped with two rooms with TVs and washing machines, and most of them are also Chinese employees, so after a while, they are basically used to it.
(Company dormitory)
Normally, we spend most of our time in the office and occasionally go out on weekends.
Because the security over there is not very good, the company often reminds us that it is not safe outside. When we go out, we drive directly to the supermarket or restaurant, and after we finish buying and eating, we immediately get in the car and go back to the company, and we never linger on the street. The company's security expenses are hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, and the security measures of Chinese mining companies are very good.
The company also hires a small number of local black employees to do odd jobs, and they have a very strong smell, feel poor, lazy, and unreliable. The local government is also very fond of asking Chinese companies for money, and even if the documents are legal, they will find all kinds of reasons and excuses to ask for money, fines, and many things have to be charged.
For example, the immigration bureau handles visas, they have a list of Chinese mining companies, and the visa processing is not only very expensive, but also takes a long time, deliberately slow, and then waits for the visa to expire, and takes the opportunity to check the person with the visa problem, and each person has to pay a fine of 10,000 US dollars.
(Local children)
A year and a half later, I met a boy from Inner Mongolia who was five years younger than me and had a sweet relationship.
But the family felt that the man's home was too far away, the age gap was too big, and they were worried that there would be many variables in the future, and this love ended without a problem.
After I resigned and returned to China to rest for a while, I saw on the Internet that I went to France to be an au pair, and I only needed 20,000 yuan to stay in a French family for a year, and I still had about 500 euros of pocket money to eat and live in every month.
During this period, I only need to play with the children of the Au Pair family, do simple household chores, take one day off a week, and have paid annual leave.
(French features, strike marches)
During this period, I also had a French visa and could travel to neighboring EU countries, and as a French student, of course I also wanted to visit France, so I was very excited at that time.
I found an agency, got some certificates, certificates, and then they helped me choose a family according to my requirements, and after the family interviewed me, I prepared the formalities and bought a ticket to fly to France.
(Flight tickets to go abroad)
In 2019, while living with an Au Pair family in France, I traveled to many countries, such as Belgium, Hungary, Italy, the Czech Republic, Austria, Algeria, etc., and I traveled in my free time.
(Venice)
What scared me the most was that during the pandemic, my visa in France expired and my ticket skyrocketed, and it wasn't until October 2021 that I was able to return home. After that, I found two jobs in China, and finally I couldn't help but miss the days of working abroad.
But this time, I stepped on a big thunderbolt.
(during reciprocity in France)
In May 2022, I was hired as a translator for a private construction company in Algeria.
I originally thought that the working environment in foreign countries was similar, but I didn't expect that this time the place of work was a construction site. The accommodation and working environment was heaven and earth compared to my first job, the food was very poor, and the working environment was miserable.
(The site where I worked in Africa)
Not only that, the contract signed by the other party and us is also a bully clause: once you leave the job, you need to deduct the air ticket money and visa money, and the salary is not paid on time.
After a year, I finally couldn't take it anymore, and in October 2023, I changed jobs and moved from Algeria to a state-owned enterprise in Guinea.
Unexpectedly, he just escaped from the tiger's mouth and entered the tiger's den again. This time it was a project undertaken by a company to build a road for the Guinean government, and the working environment was even more difficult than the last time, and I had to go to the road construction site almost every day. I am disgraced every day, not to mention the beauty of the city, and I have become a small worker on the construction site.
(I used to work in a working environment)
Although the working atmosphere is better than the last time in Algeria, it is also a common problem of engineering units - they like to delay the payment of wages. said that the salary would be paid every three months, but in fact, it was not paid for half a year and a year, and it was very desperate at that time.
After these two companies, I finally figured it out that I couldn't find an engineering unit anymore.
So, I started looking for a job online. The old classmates and colleagues have been working in the Congo (DRC) mining enterprises in Africa as French translators, and now the annual salary is 500,000+. I started to be pragmatic and interviewed a few mining companies.
Due to the influence of Algeria and Guinea, I was very cautious in choosing a unit this time, paying special attention to the reputation and working environment of the unit. It took me a long time, but I always got the best and the lower than I could.
(I hope I have a good job)
By chance, I went to interview a Lebanese company that opened a parts store in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Africa, which is considered a foreign company. Looking for a job in a foreign company abroad is another first time in my life. However, I love new things, so I decided to give it a try.
After that, I arrived in Lubumbashi in the DRC for the second time in June 2023 and felt like I was back to the beginning.
My company is headquartered in Ruben and has stores in three major cities in the Congo, and because there are more Chinese customers, each store has a Chinese account manager.
(Likasi)
The main management of the company is Lebanese, and there are many local Congolese (DRC) people working below, and I and two other Chinese girls are the only three Chinese in the company. We were assigned to stores in different cities, and I was in charge of the Likasi store in the DRC.
Likasi is the third largest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), located on the north bank of the lower Congo River (Zaire River), but it is less bustling than a big city, but more like a town.
I can dress neatly every day, and there are handsome male colleagues, who do not work overtime at 8 in the morning and 5 in the evening every day, with an annual salary of about 500,000 yuan. The company rented us a two-story apartment as a dormitory, and I had $750 a month for food, and most importantly, I didn't have to deal with black people, and I felt comfortable working every day.
(My dorm, the biggest room is mine)
So many years of work experience have taught me that there is no perfect job in this world, and every job has advantages and disadvantages, depending on whether you can bear it, what you want, and what kind of mentality you have.
(Happy working every day)
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a multi-ethnic and multi-tribal country. There are three ethnic groups in the country: Bantu, Nilot and Negro, of which Bantu account for 84% of the country's population. There is a big gap between the rich and the poor here, and it is polygamous, and the status of women is very low.
Although the law is written about monogamy, the real reality is that rich people can marry 2 wives or even more wives.
In many parts of the Congo, the bride price, which is usually livestock, goods and cash, is prevalent, and if a man cannot afford to pay the bride price for the time being, he can go to the woman's house to work and compensate for the bride price with the value of his labor.
(When I'm Alone)
In terms of diet, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) takes cassava flour as the staple food, and cassava leaves as the main vegetable. The most common recipes are tapioca flour blanched in hot water, stirred into "fufu", dipped in chili fish soup, or wrapped in banana leaves and steamed to make "xiguangke", and then removed from the leaves and eaten or sliced and fried.
Although I am not a picky eater, after eating local food and Lebanese food, I feel that I still prefer Chinese food, and Chinese food will always be the No.1 in my heart.
(Daily Food)
At the moment, I am very happy with the working environment and income, the only downside is that sometimes I am lonely. I don't get in with the fact that we all speak French together at work, but after work they speak their native Arabic, and I miss my Chinese friends very much.
Over the years, I have traveled to many countries and worked in different African countries, from fear to acceptance, from playfulness to slowly settling down, and seeing my true heart and expectations. As I grew up, I learned that what can bring me the most sense of security is a stable income and excellent work ability that grows on me.
In the future, I hope that I can meet my other half here, work hard in a foreign country, harvest a happiness, and then enjoy life.
(Welcome to follow the protagonist's social account to learn more about the workplace and life in the DRC)
[Dictation: Wang Lingling]
[Editor: Amy]
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