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🌿 About Me & this place
🇦🇹 ➡️ 🇬🇷 I am Sonja, originally from Austria and now spending much of my time on the island of Lesvos in Greece. 🏝️ My vision and passion is to create a place where local and international people, animals, plants, creativity, learning, and community life can come together—and where we live with nature rather than against it. 🏡 At the moment, I am the private owner of the house, the land, and the horses, and I personally host volunteers. 🌱 Together with a group of friends, we are exploring the future creation of a Greek Social Cooperative. However, this intended non-profit, socially inclusive cooperative has not yet been established. ❗ All volunteer activities currently take place within a private, non-profit community project hosted by me personally. Volunteers do not support commercial hospitality activities, serve paying guests, or replace paid staff. 🤝 The name comes from the Ancient Greek word philia, describing a deep form of friendship based on care, trust, responsibility, hospitality, and mutual support. These values guide how we seek to relate to people, animals, plants, and the land. Currently myself and Stratos (Efstratios) are the most active members, with Venetia and Annabel contributing too.🇬🇷 WHY LESVOS?
🫒 🌊 🌳 🐑🐑🐑 Lesvos is a beautiful island with a rich agricultural, cultural, and ecological heritage. Like many rural regions, it also faces social, economic, and environmental challenges.
After the arrival of large numbers of refugees during the Syrian war and subsequent years, the island experienced significant social, economic, and political pressures. The effects are still visible today and have shaped the lives of both refugees and local communities.
💚 I care deeply about the people, animals, landscapes, and communities around me and hope to become genuinely rooted here.
🌍 🎨 🍲 My vision is to help create a place where people can exchange ideas, learn practical skills, care for animals and land, share meals, co-create art, and build meaningful relationships across cultures and generations—which I believe is one foundation for peace.
🛠️ 🌱 🐴 Right now, our focus is on caring for the property, improving infrastructure, developing gardens, looking after the horses, and building the foundations for future educational, artistic, ecological, and community activities.
🐴 Fili, our lead mare, is one of my most important teachers. She knows how to set boundaries, guide younger horses, calm those who are anxious, and find the best fig trees and shady places.
🎥 In 2025, I bought the house you see in the pictures, surrounded by olive groves. Together with friends, neighbours, volunteers, and our horses, we are gradually transforming it into a place where people can learn, create, work, and grow together responsibly. As a documentary filmmaker, I am also documenting this transformation and the stories that emerge along the way.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Art Projects
Help with Eco Projects
Light gardening
Creative DIY projects
Animal Care
Farmstay help
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
Light maintenance
Interests
Farming
Self development
Movies & TV
Pets
Sustainability
Vegetarian or vegan
Videography
Politics / Social justice
Culture
Plant care
History
Writing
Photography
Gardening
Cooking & food
Art & design
Architecture
Animals
Cycling
Yoga / Wellness
Camping
Beach
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
🤝 What We Share
🇬🇷 🏡 🐴 🌿 🫒 🌊 We do not see volunteers simply as helpers, but as temporary members of our community. We hope that some of the connections made here continue long after the volunteering experience has ended.
🌿 🎨 🧵 🚜 Depending on your interests and the time available, we may introduce you to friends, neighbours, local initiatives, farmers, artists, craftspeople, and family members.
🚗 🎭 🎶 Whenever possible, we enjoy sharing rides, attending local events together, and introducing volunteers to some of our favourite places on the island. When we cannot join, we are happy to suggest places to visit and explain how to get there by bus, bicycle, or car.
🐴 🐴 🐴 Those interested in horses are welcome to spend time with our small herd and learn from Fili, our lead mare, who inspired many of the ideas behind this place. We follow principles inspired by Chi Horsing and see horses not as objects for human use, but as community members, teachers, and partners with their own needs, preferences, and ways of communicating.
📖 After receiving your application, we will send you our Vision Statement and Community Handbook so that both you and we can decide whether our values, expectations, and ways of living are a good match.
Help
🌿 What You Will Do
At the moment, our main focus is preparing the house, gardens, and surrounding land for future community use while caring for our small herd consisting of the mares Fili and Amba and the rescued gelding Coffee.
❗ Please note: volunteers are not involved in serving paying guests or supporting commercial hospitality activities.
The exact tasks vary depending on the season, weather, ongoing projects, and your interests and skills. We welcome practical people, creative minds, nature lovers, horse enthusiasts, makers, artists, and people who simply enjoy contributing to a shared project.
🎨 If you have artistic, creative, practical, technical, ecological, educational, or other special skills, please let us know. We enjoy adapting projects where possible and welcome contributions that leave a positive mark on the place. Artistic projects may be counted as volunteering hours if agreed in advance.
Typical Activities
🌱 Gardening, planting, and caring for the land
🐴 Supporting horse care and stable management
🛠️ Maintenance, repairs, building, and improvement projects
🎨 Creative, artistic, and upcycling projects
🏡 Caring for and developing the house and shared spaces
🌳 Seasonal work such as tree planting, olive harvesting, preparing for summer or winter, water management, and biodiversity projects
📦 Organising materials, tools, and project spaces
Community Life
🍲 Everyone participates in shared household life, including cooking, cleaning, shopping, and keeping common spaces pleasant and functional.
🤝 We live together and share responsibilities. We try to create a culture of initiative, cooperation, learning, and mutual support.
Current Priorities
☀️ Summer
Improving and maintaining the house and outdoor spaces
Creative building and upcycling projects
Preparing infrastructure for future activities
Horse care and land management
🍂 Autumn
Tree and plant planting
Olive harvest and olive oil production for our own use
Preparing the land and horse facilities for winter
Water harvesting, biodiversity, and ecological improvement projects
Fencing, gardening, and seasonal maintenance
Languages spoken
German: Fluent
Greek: Fluent
English: Fluent
Accommodation
🏡 Accommodation & Facilities
🛏️ 3 bedrooms with proper beds, mattresses, bedding, blankets, and storage space.
👥 Depending on the number of volunteers, rooms are usually shared by 2 people and occasionally by up to 3 people of the same gender.
🚐 Alternative accommodation may be available in our VW van.
⛺ Camping on the field is also possible for those who enjoy outdoor living.
🔑 If you require a single room, please ask us in advance. Depending on availability and the season, we may be able to accommodate this request.
🍲 Food & Community Living
🛒 We do a larger grocery shop approximately once per week.
💚 We provide a community food budget for preparing healthy vegetarian meals together.
🥚🍅🫒 We will show you where to buy local vegetables, eggs, bread, olive oil, and other products directly from local producers whenever possible - and you buy them from the household money for the group.
🍳 Cooking, shopping, and kitchen care are shared responsibilities and part of community life. Volunteers AND hosts take turns in cooking, doing dishes etc.
🚫 Alcoholic beverages, fast food, restaurant meals, snacks, and personal food or drinks consumed outside the project are not included.
🛠️ Creative & Practical Facilities
🏭 Large garage and workshop space
🧵 Professional sewing machine
🔨 Tools and equipment for practical projects
🎨 Space for creative, artistic, and upcycling activities (if agreed)
📦 Storage space for materials and ongoing projects
💻 Remote Work & Connectivity
📶 Usually reliable Wi-Fi throughout the house
💻 Suitable for people who need to spend a few hours per week working remotely, studying, attending online meetings, or managing personal projects.
🚗 Exploring Lesvos
🚗 Reliable drivers may be offered access to one of our cars (when available).
⚡🚲 An e-bike may also be available for local trips and leisure activities.
🌊 We encourage volunteers to explore the island, its villages, beaches, landscapes, food, and culture during their free time.
What else ...
🌊🥾 🚌Free Time & Exploring Lesvos
🏖️ Several beaches can be reached on foot, while others are around 20 minutes away by bicycle, e-bike, or car.
🥾 The area offers many opportunities for walking, hiking, birdwatching, and exploring nature.
♨️ A natural hot spring spa is located nearby.
🚌 Regular buses connect our village to Mytilene, the island's capital, which can be reached in approximately 20 minutes.
>> 🏛️ ⛰️ On your free days, you can explore Lesvos' beautiful beaches, mountain villages, forests, wetlands, archaeological sites, museums, tavernas, and cultural events.
🐴 Experienced horse people may, at Sonja's discretion and depending on the horses, join horse walks, groundwork sessions, or occasionally rides. Horse welfare and safety always come first, and riding opportunities are never guaranteed.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Space for parking camper vans
We have a one acre field so there would be space for a campervan and inside and outside facilities can be used, water outside, trees provide shade.
Can possibly accept pets
please consult us, because of sheep in the neighbourhood we think only small dogs or very well trained dogs might be brought.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
My animals / pets
Fili, Amba, Coffee
Fili has her little herd on our farm: She is a 13 year old leadmare, and Amba, 6 year old mare loves her more than anything. Coffee found a shelter with the girls, he lived abandoned before on a close by beach..
Photos
