Enjoy a unique way of life helping us in Codrington, Barbuda

Details

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  Description

  We live on Barbuda (Antigua and Barbuda) with three small businesses between us - a cafe/craft shop, a beauty therapy business, and a glamping site/guest house on the beach. We are three generations of one family, from a 70 year old to a seven year old, a toddler and a baby - we don't all live in the same house but we see each other every day - so we need kind, flexible and adaptable people who understand busy family life. We might also have paying guests or family staying with us on Barbuda too, so you need to have good social skills, be friendly, hospitable, adaptable, practical and helpful, have a sense of humour and be confident in sometimes challenging situations; living on an island can be difficult and achieving even simple things can be hard work and frustrating, but we always try our best to make it a happy and rewarding experience for you. We have hosted many volunteers in the past and they have helped with all kinds of work and in most cases become friends. Your contribution is really valuable to us and we enjoy hosting you,
  
  We don't take volunteers without agreeing the exact start and end dates first, but we are flexible for arriving earlier or staying longer as we understand travel in the Caribbean is not always easy to plan, and that plans may change.
  
  We mostly do not take volunteers for less than three weeks although it's always worth asking if you are in the area and want to visit Barbuda as we sometimes have cancellations, so please do contact us to see if we can fit you in. We don't take volunteers for periods longer than three months. We also need you to tell us about your skills/experience so we can make a provisional plan of work for your stay which will be finalised when you get here.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Babysitting and creative play

  Help around the house

  Hospitality/Tourism

  General Maintenance

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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  Interests

  

  Books

  

  Music

  

  Sustainability

  

  Writing

  

  Nature

  

  Outdoor activities
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We have always been a tight knit, resilient, self-determining and strongly independent population who are at odds with the government in Antigua about our traditional way of life on our shared common land. Recently Barbuda has doubled in population as so-called 'developers' bring in large numbers of migrant workers to build over our coastline, but mostly on Barbuda you will still see an unspoilt, rural Caribbean island where the local community is strongly opposed to corruption and over-development for tourism. Barbuda has amazing wildlife and nature, and we encourage you to go out in the village, hire a car to see the beaches and meet local people who are welcoming and kind. If you do this, you will be invited to take part in family and community activities and learn all about the islands fascinating and unique history and culture.

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  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

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  Help

  You don't need to have any qualifications but you must be easy to live with, practical, helpful, sensible, have patience, know how to use your initiative and be able to follow a structured work routine from 8am to 2pm Monday to Friday.
  
  If you have skills in the following areas - even better:
  
  Basic DIY especially fixing things and general home maintenance and repairs.
  Construction, building work.
  Carpentry, Solar.
  Vehicle maintenance/mechanics - we have two Suzuki Vitara's and a Toyota pick up.
  Painting & decorating.
  Growing things, clearing land, weeding/pruning and garden maintenance (weeding and cutting the grass).
  Bike repairs and maintenance.
  Cleaning.
  Childcare including organising activities for children: playing, reading, maybe baby-sitting.
  We would be very pleased to find a 'guest' beauty therapist who can do treatments to a professional level.
  
  (If you are a qualified plumber/carpenter/builder/mechanic/therapist we will be delighted to agree a specific project in advance to match your skills, but otherwise your work could include some or any of the above).
  
  You should have energy, enthusiasm and be happy working in a Caribbean climate from 8am to 2pm (with regular breaks) five days a week. You will have every weekend off. We give you our list of a wide variety of tasks and and you choose the tasks you would be good at or happy to do from that list (ie some of the tasks - not all of the tasks, depending on your area of interest and skill) and we encourage you to spend time working with local people, exploring the work practices and way of life here. You will spend some of your time outside when it's cooler, and some time inside when it's too hot outside. It could be a simple cleaning job to setting up a new solar power system or fixing a car. You don't have to be an expert and we host lots of different people, some are very skilled in one area for example a car mechanic, or carpenter, and others are unskilled but happy to do whatever is needed at the time, as this often changes. For example, if it rains we will want to quickly dig over and prepare the ground and plant seeds. But if it doesn't rain, we might be painting indoors for several days.
  
  Please initially state which kind of help we have listed that you are interested in, and the potential dates you would like to come.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  You will stay where you are working at the time and this could be in a double room in our fully furnished house on the edge of the village (the ArtCafe) or at the beach guest house/cabana (Frangipani) or in Asha's container/cabin (the last two are completely off-grid with solar lights and water supplied). You will be welcome to use the internet/washing machine etc at our house if you are not staying here and we will see you everyday if you are staying away from our home.
  
  I cook for my cafe every nearly day so you will be offered the same local ingredients - so lots of fish, lobster and other Barbudan produce to cook for yourselves and we do raise, kill and eat our own animals so you will need to be ok with this, but we are very happy to host non-meat eaters and can supply good veggie/vegan food although special diets can be difficult on Barbuda. We can only buy what grows here, or what the boat brings in twice a week. We provide all your food but you might want to buy your own street food such as pizza etc and there are several really nice fast food sellers and snack shops here on Barbuda.

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  What else ...

  We have had many previous volunteers who have quickly made friends here; enjoying the lifestyle, the beaches and going fishing, hunting, beach-combing and out on boat trips. Antigua and Barbuda are expensive, as most things are imported and we pay an even higher cost to get it to us here. So you will need your own funds to pay for these activities and for car hire, a local driving licence, boat trips etc. But you will be supporting the local economy, making friends and experiencing much more than just our lives here if you can afford to pay local people to take you out and show you Barbuda from their point of view. And although Barbuda has a lot of fishers and hunters, both are hard work and dangerous, so going on a fishing or hunting trip is best done as a paying guest!
  
  You will come to Barbuda via Antigua, as the ferries and/or flights for Barbuda leave from Antigua so you should budget for at least one overnight stay there at the start and maybe at the end of your stay with us. We occasionally go to Antigua to buy some groceries and for other essential services when we need to, but it is very expensive for us to do this, so you should try to bring anything you can't live without, before you get to Barbuda. You can also arrive on Barbuda directly here as yacht crew and if you do, we will come to pick you up - but only after you have been to immigration.
  
  We live about twenty minutes walk from the village so walking or cycling there and back is possible but the beaches are further away and there is NO PUBLIC TRANSPORT on Barbuda. We have shared family vehicles we use most days running around for school, work and the shopping. We go out to the beach now and then for picnics, happy hours and camping and we will invite you if we go, but we don't go very often. You can hire a bike or get taxis if you want to go out every day, and hiring a car at the weekend is a good and affordable option to see the island in your time off.
  
  There is only one village so there are not many shops but there are a few rowdy bars and lots of street food sellers. There are often church, community and sports events in the village and you will be made welcome if you make the effort to go. Barbuda is small, quiet and isolated, but currently under threat from over-development, and so we will do our best to help you understand everything about Barbuda and share our love of it with you.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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