For the last four-and-a-half years I have worked as a Youth Worker at Tegler Youth Centre (Hope Mission) where I had the amazing opportunity to serve the inner-city youth population in the northeast of Edmonton. As a youth worker; it has provided me the chance to build relationships with diverse youth (e.g. refugee families, low-income families and homeless youth) and creatively provide youth tailored programming such as basketball, soccer club, rap club, art, etc. Furthermore, we also offered the youth services such as daily snacks and meals, resume and homework help. Working as a Youth Worker has enabled me to better understand the needs of youth, the community and how to work flexibly with the resources available to strengthen and uplift them. While at Tegler, I was able to put my linguistic gift at work as we had many new comers with very little to no English. Having migrated from Africa myself, and being fluent in Swahili, French, along with being able to speak Kirundi and Kinyarwanda, I quickly bonded and connected to all the immigrant youth/parents regardless of their country of origin. The languages and my background gave me an open platform to be able to speak into their lives, making my experience smooth and very fruitful.

In terms of further experiences of working in the social services field, I had the privilege to work as a Disability Support Worker at Skills Society where I was responsible for caring for and supporting clients with physical and mental disabilities. This involved managing various household and personal care tasks, including cooking, cleaning, shopping, administering medication and hygiene. Working at Skills Society was the catalyst that helped spur me towards a passion and determination to help support the needs and quality of life for the disabled and disadvantaged of society. It has also helped me develop my verbal and non-verbal communication skills with culturally diverse clients and those for whom communication is challenging.

Among the many skills I’ve acquired and developed during my years working at as a Youth Worker and Disability Support Worker are; setting and following deadlines, working under pressure, and working with others to achieve various goals and to communicate effectively. Most importantly, I know what it means to commit to a position and to work hard to accomplish tasks. I know that working with people of all kinds, backgrounds and varying challenges and disadvantages is something I care about and very dedicated to.

I am excited about this opportunity and look forward to discussing it with you. Should there be any inquires or concerns, feel free to contact me. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Rodrick Mwemera

• Education: Some college
Skills
• Meal preparations
• Medication
• Use of wheelchair
Specific Skills
• Physical disability
• Mental health illness
• Memory loss / dementia
• Vision loss
• Hearing loss