Testimonial by Annelies Beyers,
Founder of Shamrock Au Pair Agency

I am going to start my testimonial by introducing my very first au-pair, Saskia, whom you can see in the photographs on the right. Saskia and her mother had moved to a new area in Bremen, Germany and she had to change school. In her previous school she had chosen Spanish as a second language but as this option was not available in her new school she had to study English as a second language. As a result Saskia was far behind with her English class and there was no way she was going to pass her year. She decided to drop out of school at Easter and to use this interim period to catch up with her English before she would sit the year again, the following September. Saskia chose the au-pair programme to reach her target.

Saskia was only 17 and had no experience with babies. However, her main duty would be to look after my three month old! Saskia was very keen to come to Ireland and told me that her mother could 'quickly' show her the ropes. Her mum was working as a nurse in the Special Baby Care Unit of a big hospital and Saskia joined her every day at the hospital and was shown for 7 days how to feed, burb, change and bath babies. Saskia's enthusiasm and determination said it all for me and I invited her to come to Ireland as our first au-pair.

She arrived and her knowledge of English was 'passive', she was not really able to hold a conversation. But we worked on it every day (chat, chat, chat). I got out the picture dictionary belonging to my two year old and every day we worked on a page, one day it would be 'insects', the next day it would be 'flowers' and during peeling the potatoes or setting the table I would point at the picture and she would tell me the word. By the time it was August, Saskia had become completely fluent! I was as chuffed and delighted as she was: her improvement was such a transformation. When she went back to school in September she became one of the top pupils in her class and I was so proud, as if she was my own daughter.

Our family has hosted several au-pairs over the past six years and there is a constant exchange of e-mails, cards and phone calls. Our previous au-pairs hop over on a regular basis: they know that our door is always open. In fact, six months ago, one of our previous au-pairs came over for a week and broke the news to us that she was getting married. She wanted to ask my daughters in person if they would like to be her flower girls at her wedding, rather than just asking them over the phone. We felt very honoured and touched and we now have a family holiday in Bavaria to look forward to next summer! (We've never been there before)

Shamrock Au Pair Agency was not founded by a business woman with a great business plan. It was founded by me, a mother, who needed affordable, convenient and practical childcare, and who also wanted her children to be bi-lingual and raised in a multi-cultural environment. At the end of the day, this testimonial is not about my au-pairs but about my children: they speak different languages, they have visited several of our au-pairs in their own countries, they know different foods, they know about different cultures and customs (e.g. the kings, queens, princes and princesses on the continent as we have seen some of their weddings on video tape), they know a lot of the continental geography but far and foremost, they know how to RESPECT a person from a different country, how to make her feel welcome and how to help her settle in.

To finish my testimonial, I can say with my hand on my heart that what you are prepared to put into the programme in terms of time, care and friendship, is what you will definitely get out of it.

I hope you will enjoy hosting an au-pair as much as we have. Thank you for taking the time to read my testimonial!