Three countries. Three host families. One global pandemic. And one South African woman who decided early on that none of it would stop her.
Leah Thema’s gap year story spans more miles, more rematches, and more character growth than most people accumulate in a decade.
It Started in the USA
Leah’s first placement was in New York State. A two-parent household, two kids, a suburb she’d never heard of. Standard enough on paper. In practice, it was her first time living outside South Africa, her first experience of American winters, and her first real encounter with the particular dynamics of living inside someone else’s family.
“The first three months are always the hardest,” she says. “You’re not a guest anymore, but you’re not family yet either. You’re figuring out where you fit.”
The Rematch
Her first placement didn’t work out. Without going into the family’s private details, Leah describes it as a values mismatch — her expectations of communication and mutual respect weren’t being met. She requested a rematch.
“I was terrified,” she admits. “I felt like I’d failed. But Hanlie reminded me that rematches happen, that good agencies handle them professionally, and that a bad fit is no one’s fault.”
The rematch placed her with a family she loved. She stayed an extra year.
Then Europe Called
After her US chapter closed, Leah used her experience to land an au pair position in the Netherlands. Then Luxembourg. She learned a few words of Dutch. She discovered that European traffic laws are entirely different from South African ones (the hard way). She took a long weekend in Greece with her Luxembourg host family.
“Standing in Santorini, I thought: I am here because I said yes to this life. That’s a gift I gave myself.”
The Pandemic Chapter
COVID-19 hit during her Netherlands placement. She stayed. She couldn’t come home, and she didn’t want to. She was embedded in a family, a community, a life. She rode out lockdown with Dutch people, speaking a language she was still learning, watching the world stop from a window in Amsterdam.
“It was hard. But also: I was in Amsterdam. I chose to focus on that.”
What She Carries Home
Leah returned to South Africa in 2022 with three languages (partial), a global network of friends, two years of professional childcare experience, and a certainty about who she is that she says she couldn’t have found any other way.
“The program showed me who I really am,” she says. “Through everything — good placements, bad placements, a pandemic — I found out I’m someone who keeps going.”
