The International Schools Review Forum

Has anyone ever been evacuated from the country they were working in?

What was the process like? Were you evacuated to your home country or the nearest safe place? Was it as your expense or did the school or your government cover the costs? How much were you allowed to bring with you? How much notice did you have? When, if ever, were you allowed back into the country where you were teaching? Did you keep your job & did things return to normal afterwards?

I’ve never been evacuated but I participated in several practice sessions hosted by the embassy in a couple different countries. (Does this still happen? I can’t remember hearing about any of these in over 15 years.) We were told we’d have limited notice and have to get ourselves to the rally point ourselves within a short window. Only a small personal bag, grocery sized, and if we attempted to bring a pet, they had a designated military officer to nip round the corner and shoot it. With the promise the government would send a bill later for the cost of evacuation.
There are other ways to be evacuated of course, many more pleasant than this. Scheduled planes, luggage, allowances from employers, etc. It all depends on a myriad of factors we can’t predict from here. Key questions, who is telling you to evacuate, where does your employer fit into the picture (if at all), and how urgent is it.

Came very close once. Multiple meetings with the school director, and we were all advised to have some cash on hand and a small bag packed and ready to go at all times. The evac was going to be to a safe neighboring country, organized by the school. It was a very tense situation for a couple weeks, and some of the expat staff were seriously freaking out, others just played it day by day. In the end the situation stabilized and nothing happened, except a few teachers deciding to bail out and break contract anyway.

Was ordered to once (didnt) and advised to twice (didnt), but effected a few self determined evacuations.