Join a big family in an eco-village in Viseu, North Portugal

Details

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  Description

  Hello everybody! We are a big family that 14 years ago bought, together with several other families, a land to make our dream come true: live in harmony with nature and with each other, creating a little paradise to raise up our children.
  The quinta where we live together is a very special place: it is big and wild, has a beautiful river, pure air and water, and is surrounded by only more wild nature. We are totally off-the-grid: our water comes from a nearby spring, we use only renewable energies as a source of electricity, and we have compost toilets.
  Oraibi, a part of the whole community, works like this: We are a big family with several children, trying to educate them, build a bigger house and get sustainable, everything at the same time :) So a lot of things (and life force) going on here...
  
  This summer in Oraibi we will mainly be working on ultimating the details of our new house (mainly rendering) and renovating parts of the old house (we need to polish the wooden floor, render some of the walls and finish our rocket-mass heater). We will also have works regarding taking care of the land and the garden, as well as finishing a beautiful clay/lime-stone dome that will work as a guest house.
  
  All this will be happening in summer time (that is, from June to mid September), so, if you are thinking to volunteer with us during that period, you can count to work with (and learn about) mainly building and a bit of gardening and land care.
  
  We live in the woods. That means, do not expect a volunteer experience full of city-conforts. You can expect beautiful nature, down-to-earth living, good-vibes, an experience of living together, and a space that is not overloaded with information so everybody can listen more to their inner voice and be fully themselves.
  
  We have a quite old (and amusing) camper van where two or three people can sleep.
  We have some tents that we can lend, but it might not be enough to accomodate everybody. So it is always welcome if you can bring a tent (or a car/camper/caravan where you can sleep).
  Other things you will need here are a torchlight, a GOOD WARM sleeping bag and WARM clothes (yes, also if you come in July ... the nights can get quite cold in the summer ;) , and some proper shoes.
  
  We have a beautiful summer kitchen that will be used as a common kitchen, where we will share three (vegetarian) meals together a day :)
  
  The most important thing we search in volunteers is good energy, a kind heart, and a strong will to help move forward. Even if a person doesn't have much experience, they can do a great job by really wanting to do his/her best and putting lot of motivation, interest and love in the task at hand.
  Just in a few occasions during these ten years of volunteering, we encountered volunteers with which the convivence didn't flow harmonicaly. With the time we learnt to ask the person to leave, to protect the good energy of the working group.
  
  One more thing is that we put a lot of care in creating a group that we think it will flow together (as difficult as that might be just by reading emails and profiles... but we try anyways :)... a group in which our family can also exist and be part of. That means, we might not accept people that we have the feeling they will bring a specific vibe or attitude that doesnt fit with our values (like an "extreme party" mood).

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Creating/ Cooking family meals
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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

  You will experience how is the life of an off-the-grid family and the magnificence of creating things with your own hands. You can as well get experience on gardening if that's your interest, and if you help in the kitchen you will learn how to cook tasty for a big group on a low budget :)

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  Help

  We basically need very motivated volunteers that want to give a hand with finishing the process of building this crazy house... and of course, also giving a hand with any other funny ideas that might arise in the moment (we are quite "creative" sometimes), like building a rocket mass heater or taking a caravan out of a house - two thought-in-the-moment ideas that came in previous years on an inspired moment ;)

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  Languages spoken

  German: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Fluent
  Portuguese: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  Right now we can offer accommodation in an old, quite amusing, camper van. We also have a couple of tents where we can host people, but it is not enough for everybody. So if you can bring your own tens, it would make it much easier to host you!
  We have a summer kitchen that will be used as a common kitchen, where we will share vegetarian meals together.
  Given that the work can be physically demanding, we try that the meals cooked are fullfilling enough for everybody. Having a vegetarian menu, this means that milk products and eggs are used on a regular basis. There is not much extra time to make special dietary requeriments, so if you are lactose/gluten intolerant or an inflexible vegan, it might we'll be that this is not your place. Sorry :P

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  What else ...

  We are in the middle of nature, so not many man-made local sights or available transport around here... not even a small shop (so please if you smoke, bring an amount of tobacco that goes at least for two weks - and lighters!!! ;). But amazing wild nature around, to admire and enjoy! :)

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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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  Space for parking camper vans

  This host can provide space for campervans.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  Note for volunteers that want to come with dogs: we have chickens (including very small ones), goats (also with babies), horses, a cat, a dog and relatively small children - all of those running free through the property, at least on occasions. Any dog that is a danger for them we can't host. The dogs that are used to have other animals around and do not attack small living things are welcome, but if the experience of the first days shows that it doesn't work well, it will need to stay on a leash throughout the day.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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