My name is Mekhi, but I’m often called by my second name Zoe because sometimes people have pronunciation problems with my first name. I am 19 years of age, turning 20 in the month of October this year. My mom’s name is Donna and my dad’s name is Patrick and both of them are in their mid 40’s, and both are also working for DCS (Department of Correctional Services). I have one sibling who goes by the name Kaleb, he is 25 years of age and is currently working in construction as his dad owns a construction business. Although I only have one sibling, I did grow up with several people in my household as I was grown up by my grandparents and we all stayed together, my brother, my cousin, my uncle, my aunt. Both my grandparent and my great grandpa so you can imagine that my house was always filled with lots of movement, laughter as well as chaos. I Matriculated (finished 12th grade) in the year 2023 and since then I’ve been between babysitting and helping out at a creche. I have not gone into tertiary education as yet, but I do plan to study nursing in the near future. During my free time I often read or attempt to teach myself how to play they keyboard off of YouTube videos. I also spend some time studying as I plan to rewrite my Maths exam to upgrade my marks so that I have a better chance at getting into Nursing. Last but not least in my free time I love spending time with my best friend, Brooklyn whereby we often swim, take her dog Barkley out for a walk or binge watch series. I’ve been babysitting consistently for a while now, but it hasn’t always been consistent, I’ve been consistent doing it for about 3 years which is where most of my experience comes from. The family for which I babysit have two kids, one boy and one girl who go by names Eli and Ezra. When I first started out Eli was 6 years old, he is now 10 and Ezra was 3 years old she is now 7. At first it was only during daytime while both parents were off at work whereby, I had to be there when Ezra got back from creche and Eli from school, help with homework, prepare something small for them to eat after school and have both of them bathed before their mom arrived home from work. Overtime my duties got bigger whereby I also had to babysit during nighttime when both parents were working nightshift. During this time, my duties were only to keep an eye on them until bedtime, sometimes if the mom hadn’t cooked preparing something for them to eat and feeding their dog, Blue. I would then have to get up the next morning (as I would have to sleep over) to prepare them for school and send them off with their transport. My second form of childcare came from working at a creche for 3 months. The kids there varied from ages 18 months to 6years. When I worked at the creche I would have to get there early as some kids arrived quite early and some of them needed to be fed their morning cereal or porridge. During class time I would only observe or help the much younger ones with puzzles as I wasn’t a qualified teacher. During lunch again some peoples had to be fed and needed assistance to go to the bathroom. During play time we had to observe each pupil carefully to avoid any accidents. I want to become an au pair because I absolutely love being around children. Growing up in a big family there was always a sense of life and excitement around me, and I think its children who unknowingly bring that about, life, love, laughter and joy and that’s what I’d like my life to be like. Being an au pair would also give me an opportunity to explore and experience an entire new environment, new cultures, new faces, new food. It also gives me an opportunity to learn about myself in a new environment and how I adjust to it and a new sense of independency. Should I get the opportunity to be an au pair I know I will try my utmost best to work to my full potential and be a trustworthy person which my host family can depend on and to carry out my duties as requested and also to contribute and reciprocate as much love and joy that is given to me. After au pairing and returning home, I plan to apply to universities to go into studying nursing and should the nursing not go as planned I also plan to apply to study teaching, but should my dreams go as planned I pray that after my 4 years to get a nursing degree I get to be a NICU nurse. I hope you’ve enjoyed my letter and getting to know me a little more, if you guys have any question feel free to reach out to me and ask. Kind regards, Mekhi