What is it like to live and work in another country for several months? Living with strangers who do not speak their own native language and look after children who are not their own? Thousands of young people from all over the world are looking for a job as an au pair in Germany every year.
They help in the household, take care of the children and get food, accommodation and pocket money - according to the Federal Employment Agency at least 260 euros a month plus 50 euros subsidy for language courses. You should work a maximum of 30 hours per week, have at least four free evenings and one day off per week. And they are entitled to four weeks of paid leave per year.
Photographer Michael Galian has met five young women who have worked or worked as an au pair in Germany. The fact that men of course also make use of this opportunity is shown by the photographer himself: After failing his entrance examination at a technical college in 2013, the native Russian lived with a family in Heidelberg for several months and took care of two boys.
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Learning a language, looking after children: au pairs in GermanyDuring his later study of photography in Hanover Galian came up with the idea for a photo series on the subject. The biggest challenge was to find suitable protagonists, he says. He met the young women he met through social media and an au pair placement website. He visited them in their host families and accompanied them while playing, cooking or romping with the children, but also in their spare time. Sofiko Lekischwili from Georgia says: "It is a great responsibility to be with the children and take care of them, you are a role model for them."
Not all of them had worked with children or learned German before working as an au pair. Haeley Williamson from Texas could not speak a word of German when she took care of four children aged one to six near Diepholz near Bremen. She was struggling with homesickness. Now she says, "The kids are amazing and so loving, and I will really miss them when I go."
Really bad experiences did not make any of the four portrayed. Galian wants to continue working on his series, but now also focus on the negative aspects of the program. Because some au pairs are harassed or exploited by the host parents. "On the whole, the au-pair program is good and offers wonderful opportunities for young people from all over the world - but that does not mean that everything is always rosy."
