Almost three months ago, I've written in here my experience about applying for an au pair program in Denmark. Honestly, it's one of the most confusing application I've done so far in my entire life. It's like a hit or miss thing, lie or die, and that really opened my eyes about some realities in this world.
As I've said in one of my previous blogs as well, I tried to contest the decision about my application. For starters, since this is a "cultural exchange", why would they look into my past job experiences and then say that the au pair program is not correlated with my life or the jobs that I have here in the Philippines? I'm NOT applying for a job, I am applying for the au pair experience. I want to go to Denmark to see the country and learn their language and not practice my profession while being there.
The whole process feels like a sham because they would rather approve the application of girls who want to go there and "work" as a nanny through the au pair program. They would choose the inexperienced, sometimes those without college degrees, hassle-free, because more often than not, these girls will not question the long hours of work that some of the families enforces. That's exploitation because the program limits you to only 5 hours a day of "work", 30 hours a week. You can read a blog about that in Rachel's page. Also, given that they have no work experience or college degree, the decision-making body thinks that these girls will not be able to look for a job in the country where they don't even speak the language. This is another dilemma because most of them really plans to stay in Europe. These people discover avenues to stay that are also exploitative and/or illegal such as (1) staying longer than they should (which creates problems to other Filipinos applying for visas in the EU), (2) moving to another European country undocumented and doing sketchy jobs, (3) marrying older people for citizenship (if you do it for love, there's no problem with that, just to be clear), among others. (For further reading, you can look into this case study.)
Given that the current stipend of an au pair in Denmark is TWICE than the minimum salary here in the Philippines, those who came from the province (most of them from Mindanao), finds it really inviting. They see it as a job opportunity, losing the aspect of the cultural exchange that it's supposed to be about. The program is abused and those who really want to do it for the sole purpose of seeing another portion of the world are sometimes overlooked. And yes, there are people who just do the whole au pair thing for travelling purposes and not for work. I know people who came home after doing a year or two because they are done. I also know someone who did it in every country possible, right after graduation, because she wanted to travel Europe without spending a fortune. Now she's home, working in here and saving up to get her MSc in Germany.
Let's just say that I know people who lied to get their au pair "gig" in Denmark. Sure, it's their way of getting what they want, but it leaves a bad impression to the program and to the Filipinos who do it as well. But yeah, I just sound bitching at this point, hehe. It's their own life, yes, but it also affects other applicants.
Going back, I decided to "terminate" my contest on the decision. I asked for a refund on my payment (which is 7k+ in our money; they only gave 6k back) and just went on my merry way. I was really looking forward to see Aarhus and the sick museums in there but it was not meant to be. I even envisioned myself enjoying the freaking 5-weeks vacation to see most of the tourist spots or to cross borders to see either Norway or Germany. Oh well, that's life.
All in all, it was scarring, haha.
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