is there trust in mauritian people

Hi yassirnokia,

Please note that your thread is now on the Mauritius forum, it is now easier for you to connect with the expats living in Mauritius.

Thank you,

Priscilla
Expat.com team

Hi Yassir,

why are you asking this question ?

I guess trust in people isn't based on their nationality ?

am not pin pointing nationality, but how expariate feel when they live here, wat about the safety etc it just about opinion

I think you asking rather about stigma against new comers or foreigners in general.  I think, in this regards Mauritius quite unique. Here, many ethnically different groups live together for centuries. They developed culture of acceptance and tolerance to each other differences.

Actual problem can be not in society but in person who moving to Mauritius. Does he/she have enough social skills to create and maintain contacts and understand local social values.

If you have a family it will be easy for you to live here, as Mauritius is family based society.

thanks u for ur opinion will be great help in my project

I have been living here 3 months and came with an open mind and a lot of optimism. I have lived in many different cultures and countries before, including several in Africa. So far I have been shocked at the level of distrust between Mauritians themselves and the amount of lies I have been told, some obvious, some discovered later, some for no apparent gain or reason! I have heard a lot of complaining from Mauritians, returning Mauritians and expats about how it's impossible to trust what anybody tells you, even within families, and received many warnings with illustrative stories regarding the ways people have been ripped off and cheated. I detest that kind of negativity and decided I would just change the subject when people repeatedly warn me about security issues. I have lived in many high risk areas and am not stupid about security but I don't want to live in a prison of fear behind high walls and razor wire as many people do here. However, just last week a man climbed over my wall and tried to enter my house in the morning and I ended up running up the road in my night clothes, terrified. I am finding it hard to trust, which is not in my nature so it is making me very unhappy.

Oh my that must have been so scary.
I have to say u have to be wary of who u make friends with as some have ulterior motives and i have experienced it first hand. Im sure we all go through these sorts of things no matter where u r.

I'm 40 years old, all spent in Mauritius. Never me, or any member of my family have witnessed events described by Karen.  Sorry for you Karen, it must have been really hard experience. Hope nothing worse happened to you!

Without pin-pointing, I'd like to add that such incidents happen where there is an apparent demonstration of wealth.  There is poverty among people and frustration leads to foolish acts sometimes. Foreigners are naturally more exposed because they are assimilated to 'well-to-do businessmen' or highly-paid expats. 

All this do not make Mauritius a dangerous place to live.

This post is initiated by a Mauritian local and not an expat I think. Hence my 2 cents so that new expats do not have a bad impression about Mauritius.

I agree with Nadeem. Mauritians are generally very nice people . It is just that specially the men like to talk a lot and at times brag that they know the prime minister or the president or other ministers. Which is also true as it is a small island. But mean no harm and they do not go out of the way to cheat people.

Mauritius is a  not a perfect country and do not expect too much. Accept the country , the people and all the expats living here and you will enjoy your stay in this beautiful paradise.

All the best!!!

Terence. ..exact!

by the way. I watched Veer some days ago and told my kids you were in the movie. They spent all movie looking for you !!!

Karen

For sure, such a dreadful experience as seeing an intruder trying to get into your premises, will make you, as will be any other person, irrespective of the country, whether expat or local, most uncomfortable and horrified.

It is, however, most weird and exceptional that during your short stay of three months, that " ...you have  heard a lot of complaining from Mauritians, returning Mauritians and expats about how it's impossible to trust what anybody tells you, even wiithin families, and received many warnings with illustrative stories regarding the ways people have been ripped off and cheated".

Mind you that the evil guy is definitely not monopolised by locals, though they surely have a larger share of the number of cases reported in Mauritius, since they outnumber foreigners by a ratio of more than 1:15.

In UK, as in most other countries, the picture will clearly be opposite as the number of cases reported against locals will be much more than against foreigners since locals outnumber foreigners.

Its also quite puzzling to read such peculiar statements " ... in a prison of fear behind high walls and razor wire as many people do here ... " since there are more and more eagerness from foreigners to come and live here, as according to them life is more peaceful and less risky in Mauritius than in their own country. Many threads on the forum of expatblog so confirm.

Unfortunately, life becomes simply unlivable where there is no trust in the country or its inhabitants, whether it is, quoting my friend Terrence a  ... " beautiful paradise"

Anyway, best of luck.

We live in Curepipe, bordering a "cite" in a simple humble house and our front door is opened all night long (so that our dogs could go out if they need to) 7 days a week. We've never encountered any theft attempt and feel very secured.
You're going to hate me for saying this, but when living in closed communities among expats, or surrounding yourselves with expats as neighbors, such theft attempts are bound to happen.

Sleeping Cookie

Hats off for saying in few words the main roots of the problem, namely the selection of your circle, shunning away Mauritians, unfortunately, regularly considered as the third-class people by some foreigners.

I rent a normal Mauritian house, owned by a Mauritian surrounded by other Mauritian houses, my son goes to the local Govt. school, my husband is Mauritian, our car is so old it was cruising the streets when I was still at school, I don't have a TV, swimming pool or any other symbol of wealth, even the clothes I hang on the line are pretty shabby as we have been living out of a suitcase each for over a year. I only know one other expat. The only thing that marks me as an expat is the colour of my skin. Your assumptions are pretty ugly. Is this an open forum or a propaganda site where one is only allowed to say positive things about Mauritius? I can find plenty of positive things to say too, but this thread was specifically about trust and that is something I was quite honestly having problems with which is why I reached out. It was in the hope of better understanding, not with the expectation of being blamed for having someone break into my house.

I'm sorry you've had such experiences, but I don't think anybody has been posting disgusting comments as you say here.
Thefts, lies, mistrust and rip off exist in every country (UK as well) and not only in Mauritius. The fact that Mauritius is a nice tropical island, doesn't mean it's crime free. Just as in the UK you have thefts and people ripping off others, of course you have that in Mauritius as well.
My husband is an expat as well, and since he doesn't speak French or creole, people immediately see $$$ signs and try to give him tourist prices for almost everything. I unfortunately speak creole with a bad accent, so I get the same thing as well. So we learned to ask from friends to speak for us in some cases and in others we make people understand we're not naive and not tourists. It's normal (unfortunately) for people to think they can take advantage of others that are not local, since they don't know all the rules and regulations. We were also ripped off at the beginning by the way, but now I believe we learned to "walk among the drops". Such attitude happens (almost) everywhere worldwide towards expats.

And about catching a thief in your home, no country is immune to that. Back in our country, burglars emptied the house of my sister in law and she's a local. It's a horrible feeling of invasion of privacy and I hope nobody ever feels that, but it happens, in every country.

Believe me I have a lot of negative things to say about Mauritius and every couple of months I think about leaving. But the issues you talked about are not the reasons behind us wanting to leave.

There is always the good bad and ugly in every country. Mauritius is not exceptional. 
Just be careful who you make friends with.
Anyway i stay within the limit of my fellow expat.

Hi would like to tell you there some of them you can trust ..is just like everywhere in whole world.