ABSTRACT
Like Zeffe in ‘The case’ (see Chapter 1), many managers and development workers from developing countries gain their professional qualifications overseas, often in donor countries as part of an aid project. From beginning to end, this can be a fairly stressful experience. Selection, for instance, can be a very competitive business, with a great deal of ‘face’ (see Chapter 4) at stake. This can be followed by the stresses of encountering a foreign country and its learning culture, often while separated from spouse and children. Finally, recipients are expected to return home and readapt to their old job, often as if they themselves had not changed in any significant ways. Thus, even after his return home, Zeffe’s former sponsor(s) still expected him to be deferential toward an expatriate, even one who was actually his junior in many respects.
