Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/142338
miningreview The expat experience A family from NSW took up a job for an Australian mining company on the Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), West Africa, and got a lot more than they bargained for. "Not long after we got there, a civil war started. We were evacuated to neighbouring Ghana where we lived for four months until it was safe to come back," say Lynsey Reilly. Reilly, along with her husband Andrew, who worked for Newcrest Mining, and their 11-year-old daughter, spent two and a half years in Abidjan, the country's commercial capital. During those four months in Ghana, the company set up a remote office where Andrew continued to work as the mine's commercial manager, and Reilly homeschooled their daughter Charlie. "It sounds much worse than it was," says the stoic Reilly. The family resumed its post once the war was over. In general, the family always felt well looked after and protected, she says. "[The company's] first priority was always our safety. We were their responsibility as expats and it was something they took very seriously. "Once I was sick and the driver took me to the hospital; before we even got there, work people were there to sort it all out." The family loved their time on the Cote D'Ivoire and fell in love with the country's people, food and culture. Charlie attended an international school and developed immensely from the whole experience. "I think one of the best things Charlie got from this is that she doesn't see the colour of people's skin. There were 130 children at her school and she was [in] the minority. I hope this is a quality that stays with her," says Reilly. As part of the job package, the family was offered the option of shipping all their household belongings to Cote D'Ivoire or taking up a furnished residence. They chose the latter, just adding bits and pieces from home. "We are Aussies so we wanted a barbecue," recalls Reilly. "We still wanted Charlie to come home and feel like she was home, even though we knew it was temporary." The family made lots of expat friends in the community and say they soon realised that working for such a well run company was crucial. "We walked away from this experience knowing that we were so lucky to be with such a good company," says Reilly, who also did some contract work for Newcrest while in Cote D'Ivoire as a communications specialist. "Until you do something like this, you don't know what to expect and what you need to think about until you're there," she says. "We were their responsibility as expats and it was something they took very seriously." 23