Come and help our family with creating a self-sufficient home in Tienen, Belgium

Details

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  Description

  Hi, my name is Silvia and I live with my husband and our 5 kids in the country side, just outside Tienen (45 km from Brussels), in a Dutch-speaking region in Belgium. We are Italians (this is the main language at home) but we speak English, French and Dutch fluently (or at least kids speak Dutch fluently...). We bought an old little farm 12 years ago. We did all works by ourselves - camping and working on the site until the kids didn't get into our lives :) We have finally finished the second floor of the house and concentrating on final touches inside and works outside. We are expanding our permaculture vegetable garden in the hectar around the house, as we aim at self-sufficiency. We would need some help around the house, entertaining the kids, doing some works inside and outside the house and continuing expanding our project on a self-sufficient house.
  We are a big family: we have 2 boys, Mattia (10) and Andrea (9), and 3 girls, Matilde (8), Irene (4 and a half) and Anna (3) and the nicest dog you could ever meet, Nella, of 12 and a half years old. We have chickens and turkeys, and in the past we also had ducks, rabbits and horses and we would like to have them again in a near future.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Language practice

  Help with Eco Projects

  Teaching

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Babysitting and creative play

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  If you're interested in helping us in routine taks in the house, entertaining the kids, have a cultural/language exchange, DIY works in the house and/or in permaculture and self-sufficiency, you are more than welcome. We have gained a lot of experience building the house/trying to create a more sustainable way of leaving in the years, we bring the knowledge coming from our other jobs, we are a big and welcoming family and we are happy to share all that with you and work together on this project. I have a 'double life': I work as a human rights advocate, specialising in European Law, half time and the other half I help people as a naturopath. I've been studying plants, since I was a child, especially medicinal and edible ones, I then specialised in reflexology, nutrition, Chinese Traditional Medecine, iridology and I have practiced permaculture for the past 10 years and grown my medical plants. My husband is an engineer in telecommunication and very handy in doing all DYI works and find green and innovative solutions. We are used to have people living with us (we had au pair girls for the past 4 years and workawayers for the last 2), we're entusiastic and like sharing our life and passions. We have a busy life and any help is more than welcome. Kids go to a very nice school where they learn meditation, circus, theatre, music, etc. but since it is a public one, and we do not pay for it, it depends a lot on parents' help, and therefore we often organise workshops there and go and share any knowledge we have, or in any case kids need our help in many projects they prepare within/for the school. Finally, we still help taking care, from time to time, of a number of horses in our spare time because I'm a founding member of an association having 20 horses, where I also give workshops. I'm more than happy to have a second pair of hands in all this and to share any knowledge or activity that I do.

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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

  We look for different types of support:
  
  If you have any knowlegde in DYI and building projects or you want to acquire some:
  We would need some help with finishing the works inside and outside the house. Inside, we are covering the ceiling with wood planks, building the wooden furniture, installing the doors, ...Outside, we are finishing buiding a tree house for the kids, covering the porches with wooden planks, levelling a part of the property and fencing it off, creating a parking space (concrete and tiles) with a carport, building a little house for the animals (turkeys, geese and quail birds), ... We are equipped with all the necessry tools and (self-taught) knowledge but just need an extra pair of hands. Obviously if you have yourself some knowledge to share, it's more than welcome, so that you can work independently.
  
  If you have any knowledge in green/eco projects:
  We would like to install an aquaponic production system. We've been researching for years and now we would like to start. We're also digging a little pond for biodiversity, and builing a spirale for aromatic plants, amd we would like to build a more efficient green house and build a natural swimming pool. If you have any knowledge on any of that or you would like to contribute to these projects, you're more than welcome.
  
  If you like working in the garden:
  Depending on the period, there's always a lot of work or just maintenance work to do in our permaculture garden. Furthermore, we are going to increase our orchard in Autumn (we would like to plant around 30 trees), and we need to transplant wild plants to create edges and trees to create a wind barrier.
  
  If you like helping around the house:
  we are seven at home and my husband and I work full time, therefore we also need some help with the house...
  
  If you like kids
  we have five wonderdul kids and we like having people around the house, sharing experiences, languages, cooking, in a playfull way, visiting Belgium, doing outdoor activities, etc.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  French: Fluent
  Italian: Fluent
  Dutch: Fluent
  Spanish: Intermediate

  This host offers a language exchange
  I'm used to speak Italian (my mother tongue), French (I was born and raised in a French-speaking region, studied in France and work in the French-speaking region in Belgium as a naturopath), English (I've studied in the UK and work as a legal consultant in human rights in the EU for an American company) and Dutch (we live in the Dutch-speaking region and my kids have been going to the Dutch school. I help them doing their homework, organise workshops in their school and communicate with people when I do the grocery, at the city hall, ...). I've studied Spanish and Arabic at university (my second degree - my first one is in law), but I haven't practiced for a while now. I also worked in Tunisia for a year, long time ago...My husband speaks fluently Italian (his mother tongue), English (working for an American company) and has a good knowledge of French, Spanish and Dutch. I love languages and I'm happy to help you learning one, if you're interested to.
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  Accommodation

  You will have your room and space, we would like you to integrate in the family life and share the meals with us (we're happy to try to accomodate any specific dietary requirements you might have - lactose intolerance, vegan, etc.) and participate to any activity/trip we organise. However, be aware that we have five kids and therefore leaving with us is quite intense, although pleasant

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  What else ...

  Tienen is a small town of about 35.000 inhabitants, 100.000 if you considered all the villages around that are basically part of the town (we live in one of them, and we're just 5 km from Tienen main square). Tienen is very well served by public transport. There's the high speed train from Liege to Brussels, passing by here: it takes 10 minutes to go to Leuven, 20 to Brussels and 20 to Liege. The train station is at 3 km from home and the highway Liege-Brussels is at 6 km. Paris, London and Amsterdam are very easy to reach with the high-speed train. We often go to the Netherlands to visit some friends and to Italy to see family and friends. If you're leaving with us when we're moving, you're more than welcome to join us.

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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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  Can host digital nomads

  We have a very good internet connection paid by our companies but since we're leaving in the country side the wires do not support the connection we pay for and sometimes when we all work remotely it gets a bit slower. We're going back to work to the office more and more often though, so it is not a big problem

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  Space for parking camper vans

  we have a lot of space where a campervan or motorhome can be placed

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  Can possibly accept pets

  it depends on the pet(s) and wether it stays in the house because we have a dog ourself and chickens, so a cat will be difficult inside the house and a dog should not attack the chickens

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  Hours expected

  Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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