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Help out with Puna Hawaii family life, USA

Availability

  2025 

 Min stay requested: at least 1 month

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Details

  • Description

    Description

    Aloha. I am a mother of 2 living in the Puna district of Hawaii. I practice acupuncture and love to swim and dance. Eureka is 9 years old and her brother Bhumi is 6.

    I recently had my profile paused so if I didn’t get back to you, I’m sorry and I’m ready to check in again so please reach out.

    Our home is in the jungle but walking distance to the beach, on the grid and our volunteer would have their own room (technically a lanai with 2 solid and 2 screened in walls.) We would love a guest(or 2) to stay and enjoy our positive environment while helping out Porter with household chores, gardening/land work and kitchen. Usually we can sit down at the beginning of the week and come up with a schedule of times where we know we will be expecting your help and the rest of the time it’s up to you if you want to go to the beach hang with us or whatever. When we share meals together we expect that you hang around for 10 or 15 minutes to help with the dishes and clean up after we eat just as a part of being in the house.

    Porter used to be fluent in Italian although she is a little rusty now and also speaks a little spanish. I also would be happy to have a Korean, Japanese or Mandarin speaker/ couple to learn some language from- generally we prioritize international travelers to be our guests.

  • Types of help and learning opportunities

    Types of help and learning opportunities

    Language practice
    Help with Eco Projects
    Gardening
    DIY and building projects
    Animal Care
    Creating/ Cooking family meals
    Help around the house
    General Maintenance
  • Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    We like to think of ourselves as a friendly family and would be happy to share our knowledge and passion for Hawaii and Hawaiian culture with our volunteer guests. Our home is walking distance to the beach and near an interesting part of Hawaii

  • Projects involving children

    Projects involving children

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

  • Help

    Help

    It would be great to have 1 or 2 people that could help with meals, household tasks, cleaning and yard work.

    I usually ask that you do a daily list of chores around the house at your own timing and then give a second list of other projects to do during the week when you like.(could be anything from cleaning to garden to carpentry depending on your strength,)
    I have been really grateful for the contributions that people have made so far and try to adjust my requests based on your strengths and skills. I like to say it’s the 'honor system' in terms of your hours- you keep track of yourself and we can always check in on how the workload is comparing to our expected contribution agreement.


    I would ask for 23 hours of your time a week and you can expect to have your all your meals here if you like. (The refrigerator and the pantry are yours to dive into even if I’m not home to cook )If you want to eat food that's different than we are making(meat/gf /other specific dietary stuff) then that would be your own purchase.

    I can be providing dinner and staples (always rice, beans, oatmeal and coffee veggies cheese etc. )
    For a single guest it’s nice to stay for a longer period and get to know the kids/area/ tasks well and really get in a flow. For 2 guests we usually do shorter duration stays (like 4weeks) since the house can feel a bit full with so many people after a while. But it all depends on the person/season/ situation.

  • Languages

    Languages spoken
    English: Fluent
    Italian: Fluent
    Spanish: Intermediate

    This host offers a language exchange
    I would love to practice Italian and would be happy for my young children to hear other languages as well

  • Accommodation

    Accommodation

    Our house is medium size and our visitors sometimes call it a "tree house" with the jungle all around.

    Downstairs there is the bathroom and outdoor shower, and two large rooms. One we use for our bedroom. The second room is a large shady room that acts as an acupuncture clinic/ office and chill space (off hours) for the workawayers whose room is on the lanai off the office. We have grid electricity and rainwater catchment. Living on rainwater catchment means that if we are in dry weather, we have to be very mindful about how much water we use each day.

    Transportation- if you fly into Hilo I can get you at the airport as long as we’ve agreed that I can make it to town that day. If you fly into Kona, you may need to take the bus to Hilo or Pahoa. I can only do pick ups during the day (if you get in very late, you may need to stay in town for a night before coming out to the country) Once you are here, please know that the house is in a remote area. There is an ecoresort (Kalani) nearby and a popular beach a 10 minute walk away. We are about 20 minutes from the village and the bus only comes a few times a day. I’m happy to give you a ride when I go up to town but to scoot around the island you either need to be comfortable making the bus work or get a car.

    We like to eat things like quiche, hearty soups, taro, homemade pizza, spinach dishes, burritos, salads etc. We try to eat as much local fresh produce as we can and mostly only buy organic and natural groceries. We are vegetarian but do eat eggs and cheese. If you really need to eat meat then you could take yourself to a restaurant and get some but we don't do meat in the house. If you are gluten free that would be fine for some meals but there are times we bake bread/ eat pasta or whatever and you may want your own alternatives. When I’m not home and preparing dinner for the family, it’s up to you to use the ingredients in the kitchen to feed yourself.

  • What else ...

    What else ...

    Our area is so beautiful! We are in the district of Puna on the Big Island of Hawaii in the Kalapana area. This side of the island is rainy and our coastline is black lava- so no white sand beaches or hotels. From our house one can walk to the black sand beach. There are some nice warm ocean pools down the road as well.

    The kids dad Evan is a Waldorf teacher and lives nearby and we spend lots of time with him as well. We have a great coparenting relationship and the kids stay with him several nights a week as well so sometimes the house is bustling and busy and sometimes it’s empty and quiet. i’d like for a Workaway guest to be comfortable being alone in the house for a few days if I take the kids over to my parents house as well.


    Our home is in a sweet neighborhood but there are no stores or commerce nearby and the town with stores is 20 minutes away by car so it is good to be comfortable with going to the store only a few times a week. This is a jungley place, which means we are close to nature- a definite plus but it is best to be comfortable with the possibility of cock roaches, ants, little lizards, coqui frogs and random critters mostly outside but sometimes inside as well. There is some public transportation, but it takes time to get around the island without a car.


    We like to go to the beach and swim but we tend to go in the morning or afternoon and avoid full on sunning.

    It's quiet in the evenings and we are just home and kicking it a lot of the time.

    We don't smoke and the way the air here is thick and the windows are only screens it wouldn't work to have a smoker in the house.

  • A little more information

    A little more information

    • Internet access

    • Limited internet access

      Limited internet access

    • We have pets

    • We are smokers

    • Can host families

  • Can host digital nomads

    Can host digital nomads

    The internet connection here works pretty well for regular internet stuff .

  • How many Workawayers can stay?

    How many Workawayers can stay?

    Two

Host ref number: 993254772796

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Photos

The image depicts a woman sitting in a chair, cradling a baby in her arms, with a wooden lattice fence and trees visible in the background.
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The image depicts a kitchen with dark wood cabinets, a white refrigerator, and a white stove, featuring a window above the sink.
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The image depicts a wooden house with a green roof, surrounded by lush greenery and trees, set against a cloudy sky.

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