Nouakchott - Post Report Question and Answers
What is the availability and cost of household help, and what types of help are typically employed by expatriates?
Affordable but all hosed up. Your helpers are Africans that are often not from Mauritania. There is an inexplicable lack of ability to cook something as basic as fried chicken or pasta. Helpers should be closely supervised and trained. However, having someone clean your home at least a few times a week is mandatory! Your home will fill up with sand, ants, and bugs otherwise, not to mention your porch/sidewalks. There is simply too much sand and filth in the air. - Dec 2024
There’s a decent pool of help, many that surprisingly speak English from places like Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Lots also from Senegal. It seems rare to have a local Mauritanian helper. A nanny or a housekeeper runs about $300 a month. Many also have gardeners that make about $100 a month but they will come multiple times a week, wash your car, and often clean your pool. - Jan 2023
Household help for cooking/cleaning, gardening/pool maintenance, and nannies are available. Options will be abundant if you speak French. American diplomats pay much higher than other expats- usually $200-$350 for full time housekeeper/cook or nanny depending on their skills and experience . Fewer families have drivers, but there are options if you want to pursue that. - Aug 2021
Maids average a month 3,000 MRU and gardener 4,000 MRU (comes daily). - Aug 2021
We had a gardener for 2200 MRU/month for one visit per week which was very affordable. Household help is readily available and there is a pool of experienced staff who have worked at residences for other personnel. - Sep 2020
It can be challenging to find someone who cooks. We hire a cook/housekeeper/nanny and a gardener. - Apr 2019
I brought a nanny with me and am glad I did but I understand that most people use non-Mauritanians as domestic workers (folks from other West African countries). - May 2016
Good and inexpensive. - Dec 2015
Housekeepers earn about US$200 a month. - Apr 2014
Readily available at US$250 a month and up for full time. - Aug 2011
Reasonable. - Dec 2009
