Lilidh, nanny in Edinburgh

In Malawi I have been living and working in STEKA, a children's home for 61 former street children between the ages of 6 months and 22 years. In the home there are only 4 members of staff, myself included, so I have had a large amount of responsibility, which has taught me to be flexible and how to problem solve. During my stay at the home there have been different volunteers who have stayed for shorter periods of time so I am used to working independently or as part of a team to provide exciting and educational activities for the children. Every day between 8 and 12 I have taught a nursery class of children, both from the children's home and surrounding community, which was set up in order to provide children in villages with a safe and positive educational environment. Many of the children I work with in Malawi have very difficult backgrounds, which have resulted in challenging behaviour and I have had to build on my earlier experiences of working at East Lothian Play Scheme to develop skills to manage this. I have set up a tutoring system within the home, which involves finding alternative methods of teaching the children who are falling behind in mainstream education, often due to huge class sizes and the rigid structure of the Malawian education system. Many of the children I work with have additional support needs and behavioural issues and I have found that this tutoring time can be therapeutic for these children and is a very positive way of overcoming challenging behaviour, with attainable goals to work towards in a calm environment being very encouraging. I grew up with two very close family friends with ASD and it has therefore been something that has always been a part of my life. Their mother brought them up using the 'Son-Rise Program' and I have learnt a lot about Autism from her. When I was 15 I began volunteering for East Lothian Special Needs Playschemes where I have worked over 3 years on a one to one basis with children with a range of Additional Support Needs, many of whom have autism. This taught me a great deal about dealing with challenging behaviour and the importance of patience, encouragement and positivity to complete a task. Having volunteered with this charity for a number of years, I have attended many training courses, where I have learnt basic first aid, basic sign language, child protection and so on. I have also volunteered at They Yard Adventure Centre for children with disabilities. A summer job in Maddie and Mark's children's shoe shop taught me a lot about organisation and adaptability. I was employed there because many of the shop's customers have additional support needs and, therefore it is important to make the shop a calm and safe environment that feels welcoming to all. For example, on one occasion I fitted a child's shoes in the play pizza kitchen whilst they pretended to make pizza as their autism made a formal appointment cause too much anxiety.