Ultimate Au Pair Nominee
Au Pair: Andrea Sofia Ribadeneira Vacacela (Sofy)
Ecuador
Host Family: The Zimmermans
Location: North Carolina
Sofy has been with us as our AuPairCare au pair for one year as of this week, and we are thrilled that she is extending with us for a second year. We have two girls; Michele is 9 years old, and Teresa (adopted from Kenya in 2004) is 4. Sofy loves and cares for them, accepting hugs and kisses at any time of the day or night but also puts up with grumpiness in the morning and tantrums at the end of the day. She drives the children to their lessons and extracurricular activities, she takes them on picnics and to the park, she plays Barbie or football with equal facility, and we trust her utterly and totally to care for our children.
However, what's so remarkable about Sofy is the way she has gone above and beyond her duty as an au pair. Every year our family goes to Kenya for the summer, where I do research on animals. The trip there is absolutely grueling - 30 hours spent on planes or in airports, and Sofy was an absolutely heroic au pair, dealing with our unhappy 4 years old through that long trip. But arriving in Kenya was just the beginning. We live in a bush camp in a national park, under very rough conditions; no running water and no electricity. Our research camp is a lovely place and we live in close proximity with the local Kenyans and the wildlife. Sofy got to see lions, hyenas, zebras and wildebeest. Elephants passed by camp most every morning. Our au pair danced with Maasai children at a local celebration and talked to anyone who could speak English, about her native culture and theirs.
One of the most amazing projects Sofy completed in camp was starting a language project for my children in which she listed a few key vocabulary words and phrases every day in three languages - Spanish (her native language), English and Swahili (the most widely spoken African language in Kenya). Our au pair's project went on beautifully for several days, until Sofy learned that there are actually FIVE African languages spoken in our camp - at which point she expanded her project to list words and phrases in ALL of these languages (English, Spanish, plus the 5 different African ones) every day. The children (and our staff) loved this; it became a source of huge delight for everyone. Sofy and the girls would post the list of words outside the kitchen every day, and we would find people there at all times of the day staring at the phrases in all 7 languages and trying out the words, or just chuckling. At the end of her time there, Sofy made a special book for our camp with all the words and phrases in all the languages. She left very happy memories behind her. I have had many au pairs in Kenya, from the US, Ecuador (Sofy is the second) and Kenya, and none have embraced the life and the work in camp the way Sofy did.
Sofy is our ultimate au pair. She not only does her "regular" work in the US with love and joy, she endured truly tough conditions in Kenya and enriched all of our lives throughout the process. Whenever Sofy has a day off, our little one, Teresa, begs me, "Mommy, can't I have a play date with Sofy today?" This says it all - she is a very special au pair. We love her and are lucky to have her as our au pair.
