crossroads between continue working or going to a PhD Here is my situation, I got a MSc from a renowned university in Europe and I have been working as a lecturer in a non-EU country until now. I am in my mid thirties (upper part =)) and I have came to an important decision to make:


I have been offered to work as a full time lecturer with all my benefits in a local renowned university in the country that I am staying
At the same time I have an offer to follow PhD studies in a ZA university, but I am not very keen about it, mainly because the problems with the crime rates and low salary per month


I have seen that there are a lot of possibilities for getting funded PhD positions worldwide, but I am afraid of the following:


That after my studies and if I do not get an academic position in the place that I did my PhD studies, to not be able to get another academic position as the one that they are currently offering me (I will be ending my PhD at 42 years old approximately)


I have a high interest for academia, unfortunately the universities in the country that I am working are not so much oriented to research, but only to lecturing. That is why I feel like bored and stressed to do the same task everyday, to do research is very hard because I must occupy my little free time and most of my ideas get stuck after a while (mainly because there are not other academics to talk about problems encountered along my projects)

I would not really like just to end with the MSc and I feel that is something missing in my life, this has lead me to a problem of anxiety and depression.

Any advice?

Thanks
First of all, nobody can tell you what the best decision for you in such a decision is.

That said, what you need to look at are the opportunity costs of your different options. What do you gain from each of the different possible choices? Equally important is to ask yourself what will you have to give up to pursue those choices. 

For you, you need to ask yourself: 


How important is being a researcher compared to being a lecturer?
How difficult do you think it will be to get a position when you finish your PhD?
Is your offer of graduate admission worth the upheaval it would cause in your life?


And other questions like these. Once you get a feel for how important these issues are to you, the easier it will be to make a decision. It will still be a very tough decision (these sorts of choices always are), but ultimately it will be your decision, and you'll need to be comfortable with the decision you've reached.