Exclusive interview with Sheila Burch, recently appointed as an Ambassador for the "Internations" Baku community of foreigners.
Sheila, you've recently been appointed as the Internations Ambassador of the Baku Community, here in Azerbaijani capital. Since many of our readers are not familiar with the whole "Internations" thing, please tell us, what do your responsibilities as an ambassador include?My duties as ambassador include organizing events for expats and other global minds in Baku. As our group expands I will try and organize more events catered to the desires of the community. The objective of these events is to form an international community and to explore the city of Baku.
Speaking of the "real-life" meetings of the foreigners in Baku, according to the information we have, there have been only 2 meetings. How often does the community meet? How do you yourself assess these meetings?We will try and meet once a month. After each event I hope that members will post their feedback on the "Internations" website.
You've been called a "global nomad" by the "Internations", and you've been living in Baku for some time already. What, in your opinion, needs to be made/changed in the capital, for the foreigners to feel more comfortable, if comparing to other countries...Baku is a very welcoming community for foreigners. It is a small city and the people are very friendly making it easy to get to know the city.
In your opinion, how high, or low is the level of overall security in Baku? From the foreigner's point of view, how safe is Baku compared to other countries?Baku is an extremely safe city for foreigners. As a single woman I feel very safe in Baku. Anything can happen anywhere and it’s true you need to be aware in every city in the world, but in general Baku is a very safe city.
The International School of Azerbaijan, where you work - what kind of school is it? Please, share with us...The International School of Azerbaijan (TISA) is an international school with over 50 nationalities represented. It is for students from kindergarten to 12th grade. It is part of the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) and we offer the IB programs from grade 1-12. The instruction at the school is in English and most teachers are from England, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada and Scotland.
As the head of the Baku community, do you have any ideas for the next get together event? It seems like the number of attendees increase with each meeting...The next meeting will take place on December 9th, at “The Brewery”, at 19:30 (local time). We are expecting a big number of attendees, and new members are definitely welcomed.
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