From South Africa to Germany: A Year Away From Home

Meet Zoe Coetzee. She was both born in and grew up in Bloemfontein, one of the capitals in South Africa.

Coetzee is only 19 years old, but said that from a young age, she always knew she loved children. After hearing about au pairing, she explained that she already knew it was the route she wanted to take after she finished her high school studies. "There's some people who have got it planned out. My plan was to go abroad for a year."

When asked what her draw is to children, she explained that she has always naturally gravitated towards caring for children, even when she was young. She remembers being a part of her school's student body and being in charge of the grade eleven students. "I had the worst time of my life. (...) They did't listen to me." She further explains that when she was moved to a younger grade of teenagers, things became easier for her. "Children have always been easier because you get what you get with them."

Despite her knowing for a long time that she wanted to move away and pursue being an au pair, Coetzee says that her mom was not so excited about the idea. "I think she just realized it was easier to come to terms with it than say, 'no, no you don't actually want to do this,' because like I mentioned, I am rather stubborn," she says. So, after she took her last exam at the end of November 2024 and received both her mom's and dad's approval, she was able to begin the process.

When asked how she ended up in Germany, she says that she originally looked on a portal called Au Pair World. She was later directed to an agency called OVC by the sister of her friend, who had au paired in France. The agency had au pair locations in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, the U.S., and Germany, but Coetzee expressed that she was mostly interested in getting to Europe.

She explains that the process consisted of interviews with her home agency, which started in December 2024. Later, she had virtual interviews with six different families. Then she was able to choose which family she preferred to live with. If she and the family pick eachother then they are matched together. She expressed how grateful she was because her host family paid for the flight to Germany. She says, "I turned nineteen the 27th of March, and then I left the third of April."

As for the language, Coetzee speaks Afrikaans and English, but also learned German while living with her host family. She explains, "I was able to pass my A1 exam with three months of German learning." She says that math is not her strongest subject, and because she has dyslexia, she sometimes has difficulty with reading. Learning languages, however, comes more naturally for her.

Although she believes that being able to see the world was a benefit to becoming an au pair, she admits that she does not see herself continuing to au pair in different countries because she misses home. She explains that before living in Germany, she had only seen snow twice before, and that it was not as much as she's seen here. "It's cold. We don't see snow a lot at home. We get a lot of frost, but nothing major. I'm not used to this cold," she explains as she discusses the differences in weather between South Africa and Germany.

Coetzee says that her Visa ends by the end of March 2026, and she plans to go back home to Bloemfontein. Her hopes are to find a job when she returns home, then in 2027 begin studying nursing, specializing in neonatology. "I got here, and I'm like, actually, I want to do nursing." She realized after being here and working with her host family's children, one of which being a baby, that working with infants is something she really enjoys. "Yeah, 12-hour days are long, but it's worth it at the end of it, and that's just something that I realized. That's what I want to do," she says when considering getting into the nursing profession.

When considering having to leave soon, she says, "I don't want to get attached to more people." She expressed how she is sad that she will miss the first steps of the baby that she has watched grow up. "There's so many moments I just can't explain (...) like I get invited to all the family dinners," she says, considering the appreciation she feels towards her host family. Although she was offered to go home for Christmas, she felt it was not worth it because the flight alone is about 22 hours. She is sad to have missed holidays with her family, but she was thankful to her host family for considering her during that time. "They treated me like their own."

Coetzee further explains, "I missed a lot of milestones, and I don't want to miss anymore. Like, I missed my grandmother's 80th birthday, my sister's 16th, my cousin's 13th." She says she has made two friends since being here, but both have gone back to their home countries. She then says, "church has helped a lot because there's a lot of people [my] age there (...) and now there's people to do things with again."

Coetzee emphasizes the importance of prayer and God in the decision she made to move to Germany. She explains that she never imagined a year ago that she would be living in Germany with such a great host family. If you have a dream that you are considering pursuing Coetzee says,"Try it, even though you're scared. Chase your dream even though it's scary, even though it seems unattainable. (...) So chase the dream even though it scares you, even if it's petrifying, pray about it daily."

Zoe Coetzee sits smiling in the sanctuary of her church, Trinity, after service. (Photographed by Dani Fielder)

Coetzee singing in the praise team during service. (Photographed by Dani Fielder)

Coetzee being comforted by another member of the praise team after singing. (Photographed by Dani Fielder)

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