@Odericko
Couldn't have put it in a better way.
@ all apartheid nostalgics.
The fact that black south africans are now "getting back" at white south africans after all these years of apartheid and racism should not come into play when speaking about Africa as a whole, let alone Ethiopia.
Calling black people "locals" and whites "expats" isn't very smart.
What happens, for example like when our national airline (cameroon) went down, and some captains left for Asia, as well as other African countries. Are they not considered to be "expats" over there even though they are black?
It really baffles me to read comments of people complaining about being 3rd generation white Africans and being singled out by black counterparts.
Well my friends, do you have any idea what is to be black and trying to find a decent job in Europe, or even America, even when one has the right qualifications? And the main difference, is at least WE did not come into THEIR land, strip them of everything THEY had, and put them into some form of slavery. Had we done that, then maybe I could imagine why THEY would be mad at US!!
Now the system might not be right in S.A., but please, stop complaining for a situation that was instaured because of your grandparents behavior, and if things are too harsh, then just move to another country. After all, isn't that the life of a pilot? And I'll repeat myself, there are some pilots in worse conditions than you are, on other continents.
Last but not least, I will reiterate what I said in my earlier post. Airlines, apart from the ones specialized in expat recruitment like EK, EY, and such, always favor recruiting "locals". In Brazil, yo have to be a national and speak Portuguese. In Europe, you have to hold a EU passport, but often, like in France, Germany, Switzerland, etc, they will also require you to speak the national language fluently on top of your ICAO level 4 english.
I need not to speak of the US, Canada, or Australia. Isn't that some form of protectionism?
What you should also know is that if "locals" often do not like "expats", it is simply because they often get much better working conditions.
Simple example, when they recruited pilots for the new cameroonian national airlines, they gave some awesome packages for the european (all white) pilots. 7000€/month for FOs and 10000€ for CAPT plus free housing at a 4 star HOTEL. The local pilots were getting paid...900€ and that's all. Yes, that's right. Even the expat cabin crew were making some 3000€ monthly. It was getting so pathetic they got kicked out.
Now Ethiopian might only be paying $6500 or so to say, but remember the locals there do not exceed $2000. Life is less expensive there than in any western country as long as you "keep it cool" so make an educated choice.
Happy Holidays to you all.