Flavia

Italy
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Description

As a supporter of projects and activist groups that mobilize with peaceful protest actions in favor of nature protection and against climate change, I would be excited to do something active to improve the situation. The western, capitalist lifestyle I was born and raised in, does not make me happy and I want to get away from it for a while, also to see what I can actively do about it once I'm back in Europe. I also realize that I have been living in a privileged situation all my life and therefore want to give something back and help as much as possible.

I would be honoured to participate in your project as a volunteer since rainforests cover about 12% of the planet's land area and are the most important green lung on Earth, an estimated 50 percent of terrestrial biodiversity is found in rainforests. I am therefore convinced that efforts to reforestation and protection must start from there.

Last year I spent 3 months in a Finca in Ecuador, learning about Permaculture, Vetiver and Bambus (the owner of the farm focused on reforestation, vetiver and bambus cultivation and selling and land restoration). I am very determined and when I decide to do something I carry it through to the end without complaining or looking back. I can adapt very easily to extreme living conditions, I am outgoing and I get along well with all kinds of personalities. I have a strong work ethic and perform my duties in a diligent and responsible manner.

I have a Bachelor's degree in Interpreting and Translation of English, German and Russian (with Italian as my native language). I have held many different types of jobs so I already have experience with heavy physical labour and teamwork. I have experience with children as babysitter and language teacher and pets and I know how to take care of another living being.

If your project needs a dedicated volunteer, I would be thrilled to have the opportunity to assist. I am very flexible with hours and shifts, and have no demands on room and board. I would be available to volunteer at your facility for at least 2 weeks, probably staying one month or more if possible, as strange as it may seems for a traveller, I don´t like to move from place to place too often. I will arrive in San Paul on the 1st of February 2023.

During this experience I hope to gain knowledge and practical skills regarding sustainability and living with nature, which I can then put into practice and / or pass on once back in Europe, I would be grateful for the opportunity to participate in your project. I look forward to your response.
Interests

Astronomy

Hitchhiking

Cooking & food

Art & design

Mountain

Yoga / Wellness

Writing

Vegetarian or vegan

Sustainability

Plant care

Nature

Languages

Hiking

Culture

Farming

Drawing & painting

Dancing

Cycling

Camping

Books

Beach

Animals
Languages

Languages spoken
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
Italian: Fluent
Spanish: Intermediate
Russian: Beginner

More details about my language interests
I am a language teacher in Germany, so I would have no problem in teaching English or Italian if needed, maybe also some basics of German. Since my last trip in Ecuador and Peru I can fluently talk in Spanish and understand. I unfortunately speak no Portuguise at all.

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Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn

I'm interested in:

Eco Projects

Animal Care

Light gardening

Creative DIY projects

Hospitality/Tourism

Some knowledge of:

Teaching

Life at a Farmstay
More details about your skills

I know how to make compost, I know something about the proper soil to plant and how to grow in a Treenursery to then move the plant on the soil. I can use a machete and make a fire and then make sure it doesn´t go off. I can cut and make reproduce Bambus and Vetiver. I know which plants should be planted together and which not and how to take care of a kitchen garden.

I have teaching experience with grown up and children and Babysitting experience as well.

I have a Bachelor's degree in Interpreting and Translation of English, German and Russian (with Italian as my native language). I already have experience with heavy physical labour and teamwork.
Age

30
What else ...

I would expect to have a meal 2 or 3 times a day and a place to sleep in exchange for my work, It doesn´t matter if I have to cook the meal by mayself, the important thing is that the host provides the food.

I do not have a tent nor a sleeping bag so I would need an accomodation with a bed and covers and possibly a mosquitonetz.
Some more information
- Smoker
- Driver's licence
- Allergies
- Special dietary requirements
  Vegetarian

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6 Apr 2024

Left by Workawayer for host (Help out in our hostal and ...)

Paulina es una mujer extremadamente generosa y acogedora, nos dejó a mí y a mi amiga (que fue voluntaria conmigo) siempre muy libres para hacer lo que quisiéramos. Una vez incluso nos prestó su coche para ir a dar un paseo por la tarde y siempre fue extremadamente generosa compartiendo la comida y el espatios del albergue, comimos muy bien y en … read more

(Excellent)

11 Jul 2023

Left by Workawayer for host (Help out on a bio-dynamic ...)

I was a month with Simon and his 2 childre, Kaleb and Caterine, during April 2023.
I loved this experience. There were other 2 couples of volunteers during my staying, one of the with a small baby, and another girl around 30.
Everyone had their own room with private bad, the kitchen and the bathroom are shared. Everyone had their weekly task … read more

(Excellent)

11 Jul 2023

Left by Workawayer for host (Help with reforestation ...)

I was by Anita for 1 month in Mai 2023.
The situation is a bit different from the description in the profile, Anita moved in a small house and now she is in charge of a Organic Cooperative in SIlva Jardim. She has her on vegetable and food production and the other memebers of the Cooperative bring to her their production to be sold once a week.
I … read more

(Excellent)

31 May 2022

Left by Workawayer for host (Volunteering in Parque Bambú ...)

I stayed at the Finca for 2 months and a half, I was supposed to stay 3 full months, but the first two weeks I couldn´t get there because Piet had Covid and he told me to wait in Quito that he was feeling better again, and then my visa was expiring, so I couldn´t stay longer.

THE PLACE
The place is wonderful. The house develops on 3 floors, on … read more the ground floor there is the kitchen that the volunteer can use as they please, and the living room, which is the only place on the property with Wifi. Outside there is a veranda, a bathroom that the volunteer can use and the shower (the only one in the property with hot water) and the lavatory where you can hand-wash your clothes (the is no wash-machine). Outside on the opposite side of the veranda there is Noami´s room, Piet oldest daughter.
On the first floor there is Piet´s room, many others bedrooms with bathroom and another huge - open air living room where normally Piet´s holds his Workshops about permaculture.
The second floor is not finished yet so it looks more like a terrace where you can relax with a book (Piet has a very rich library of books in English, German, Spanish and Dutch) in the hammock on a great view of all the valley. Me and the other volunteer used to do yoga here.
The volunteers sleep in the Mirador, which is a structure built at the entrance of the property, 20 meters away from the house, with one shower, two toilets and a sink with mirror, a hammock with view and a kind unused lavatory at the ground floor, and a room with 6 beds, wardrobes, a couple of desks and night tables.
Around the house and across the road there is all the property ground, which is 15 hectars in total, totally covered in vegetation, fruit trees and plants and downhill, at the edge of the property, flows the Guallupe river.

WORK
The volunteers normally wakes up at 7 and start working at 8 until 11:00/11:30. The lunch is at 12:00 and after Piet normally does a siesta of 1 hour or 30 min, so the work starts again around 14:30/15:00. In the afternoon sometime we worked until 17:00 sometimes until 18:00, it depends on the things that has to be done that day (some other days we stopped working at 16:00).
On the profile it is written that the volunteers has 2 days per week off, THIS IS INCORRECT: on Saturday the volunteers are supposed to work as well but only during the morning, the afternoon is free while Sundays are off all day. BUT Piet gave me two entire weeks off for holiday to travel, one week in February and one week in April.
The work changes every day accordingly to what there is to do in the Finca, the things that I did were: Helping the workers to harvest and prepare Vetiver plants to sell, cut and make reproduce Bamboos trees, plant vegetable and new trees, feed the chickens, clean fields with the machetes to plant, fix water pipes, wash Vetiver roots, collect "ingredients" and make compost, create good soil to plant, fix the wire of the chicken house, cut and collect wood for fire and construction.

FOOD
Piet provides 3 meals a day, even in the days off if you want to. The fruits is normally provided from the Finca: coconuts, ananas, platano, lemons, mandarins, guayaba, oranges and papaya. Sometime from the Finca we also ate sugar cane (juice), dragon fruit, yukka (tapioca), salad, and while there me and the other volunteer planted onions, tomatoes, pepper and chilly. The eggs are also provided by the chickens, all the rest Piet buys it at the local market in town. Normally, if Naomi is there, she prepares lunch while we worked with Piet, the dinner sometimes we cooked sometime we just ate bread and cheese. The volunteers are free to use anything in the kitchen in any moments independently. Sometimes when nobody wanted to cook or we didn´t have time for it we went to eat in a local restaurant and also in this case Piet pays for the volunteers lunch.

DOWNSIDES:
1. The dogs: Piet owns 5 dogs in total, and 2 cats (one of them is not of the family but he keeps on coming to the house so it is basically always there). The dogs are not trained and they bark all the time, also at night, reason why me and the other volunteer asked Piet to close some of them (those who bark more) during the night in a room. Even so, it was possible to sleep well at night, but some of the neighbours dog sometimes would bark too.
2. Piet´s attitude towards my basic Spanish: when I arrived at the Finca i didn´t speak Spanish at all but I am Italian, so i can understand almost everything, still Piet was often extremely annoyed by my incapability of speaking the language and he wouldn´t hide it from me at all, on the contrary, even if he can fluently speak 3 languages included English he would talk to me only in Spanish on purpose. Maybe he only wanted to try and help me learning the language but correcting me every 2 words making me feel uncomfortable and stupid from day 1 I don´t think was the best way of doing it.

(Very good)