JUNIOR, 28 YEARS

Dear Family,

My name is Junior Chateh. I am a 24 year-old (male) Cameroonian. I currently live in the city of Limbe ,the South West Region of Cameroon, where i started and completed my nursery ,primary and secondary school education. I actually come from a very poor background ,but always trying to make ends meet.Limbe , is a small town (approximately 84,223 inhabitants), and is situated in the coastal area of the country.

I come from a family of 2: My Mother (Grace) died when i was 5years old and my father live in the US but never seen ,since they were seperated. I have 1 brother of age 36 years whom he travelled another country to make life better on his part.

In about a year or two I plan to continue my studies to have high school diplomate in a vocational institution, but i could not due to financial background.Since after the death of my Mother , i have been living with my grand mother of 81years of age now ,my 1 aunty by name Joyce,2 Uncles by name Charlie and Ndi 65years and 46 years old of ages. At the moment,am doing a part time job as a glass and alluminiun cutter in a small unit company and also taken care of a 3 little kids as a nanny to make ends meet.I would like to take some time out of academics to have a different life experience, and to have time to calmly reflect on my future professional orientation. To this end, I think spending a year abroad would be particularly interesting.

My first language is English. I started learning English in primary school, and it was also the language of instruction in the secondary school I attended.
I speak an intermediate level of French ,but really admire the dutch language whenever i heard of people speaking it. I begun learning it in primary school and have been taking French language classes at my free time at home for over 1 years,since Cameroon is Bilingual.
I am nevertheless aware that learning a Dutch language within a classroom context is by itself, incomplete. So, in order to really be at ease in this language, I feel that a cultural immersion would do me a lot of good. I am particularly interested in experiencing family life in Holland and other parts of Europe, since it offers a cultural context that is undoubtedly different from mine. For this reason, I would very much like to find a nice family to live with and work for in Holland.

When it comes to child care experience, I have looked after children in both formal and informal contexts. Last year and this year, as part of voluntee work, I spent a six month internship period working in an orphanage children's home care. Within my voluntary work,i provided tuition to children aged between 5 to 10 years. I also organized for them and took part in recreational indoor and outdoor activities: we sang, danced, played games, role played, drew, painted, and narrated stories. We also visited the public library, the local animal park, went out on picnics and a camping trip.So as to bring some life in the orphanage activities within the children.

I have helped my cousins look after their kids 4 and 6 years old girls while away from the country for 2 months . Although my looking after them is now restricted due to my glass cutting job , I was nevertheless much more involved in caring for them on a daily basis. In addition, my two younger niece, also spend a lot of time playing with our neighbour's two children Joan and Randy ( aged 5 and 7 years), so from time to time I find myself in their ever animated company. I can comfortably say that I sincerely enjoy spending time with children.

When it comes to leisure, I take pleasure in the simple things in life. I enjoy being outdoors, being with my friends, going for walks, visiting places I have not been to, and reading a good book. I also enjoy painting and on dull or rainy days, I often propose drawing and painting activities to my younger cousins and our neighbour's children whenever they come for company. Did I already mention that I love to read and write? I also serve as an editorial committee member in our school for the magazine purpose.

As far as preferences are concerned, I am looking for a live-in arrangement with a host family, that would be happy to have me stay with and work for them for at least 1 year. I would also prefer looking after children aged between 6 months to 10 years. Lastly, although I am quite flexible, I would prefer to have working hours that would allow me to attend day time Dutch language classes.

I would be happy to have the opportunity to speak with you: to answer whatever questions you may have about me or my childcare experiences; to learn more about your family; your interests and to know more about what you expect from the au pair arrangement.

Thank you very much for your interest in my application!
I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours Sincerely,

Junior Chateh