Profile information
Travel information
I am currently
Travelling
My next destination:
Portugal - from Oct 2024 until Mar 2025 View all
Description
Hallo, my name is Helma and I come from Holland.
This is my first registration with the “Work Away” club and I am really looking forward to this adventure.
My plan is to quit work at the end of the summer and go around Europe with my camper.
I have done the principle of Work Away before. In my twenties I worked for a few months while traveling through Australia. More recently a month in France, two weeks in the Eiffel and three times a week in the Ardennes. The work included a garden and vegetable garden, maintenance of the house and garden and refurbishing furniture and interior.
Those were fantastic experiences and this gave me the idea to do this for a longer period of time.
Now via Work Away!
I am a single mother of a 25-year-old son. He has been living on his own for a number of years.
I have a nice house in a large village and enjoy my garden.
I'll take a picture of it.
In the past I have worked as a social worker, I have my diploma as a skilled gardener. And after a few years in Africa (Nigeria) I worked for 12 years in the reception of asylum seekers.
I have been a probation officer for the last 20 years.
Now it's time for another adventure and I'll be quitting my job on August 1st.
My plan is to travel with the sun a bit. In winter in Southern Europe and in summer I expect to visit Sweden. But everything is possible, I'll see what comes my way.
For this plan I bought a camper van that offers me the certainty that there is always a place to sleep for me.
Some key words of who I am: Creative, solution-oriented, independent and motivated worker, likes to be outdoors. Use humor often. I regularly hear that I can read people and am a connector.
I like walking and cycling. Listening to music and dancing always makes my day. Physically I feel strong and fit. I am a Team player.
What can I do: Growing up on a farm, I learned not to be afraid of getting dirty. I am handy and practical and if I don't know how to do something, I ask. Don't avoid challenges,
Painting, renovating, gardens and everything that goes with it. I'm bringing my boots and I bring a good sense of humor.
I think I quickly feel at home in many places and I can show what I can bring😊
Hope to see you.
Interests
DIY & crafts
Charity work
Self development
Van life
Yoga / Wellness
Sustainability
Plant care
Hiking
Nature
Music
Gardening
Fitness
Farming
Camping
Animals
Culture
Events & social
Dancing
Cycling
Languages
Languages spoken
Dutch: Fluent
German: Intermediate
English: IntermediateMore details about my language interests
French or Spanish
Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn
I'm interested in:
Eco Projects
Art Projects
Animal Care
House sitting
Some knowledge of:
Gardening
DIY and building projects
General Maintenance
Life at a Farmstay
Helping around the house
Charity Work
More details about your skills
I can work independent as well as in a group. I am creative and can find solutions. Problems are there to be solved. Carpeting, painting and I love gardening. I am not afraid to use my hands. Can get along with almost everybody and use humor to solve differences.
Age
65
Some more information
Smoker
Driver's licence
Allergies
noSpecial dietary requirements
no
Feedback
This was a wonderful experience.
The welcome, Helena, her mother and her sons, was warm.
I was always welcome to participate in the morning yoga classes and in retrospect I should have done this more often😀.
Helena is clear in communication, the work is not difficult. I could prune and renovate the garden… read more
She applied in a time that I was not really looking for a volunteer but reading her profile made me think I could use some help in the garden not over seeing what really needed to be done!
We didn't agree about a time frame but we started to talk, work, eat, drink and walk around the garden and had… read more
What a heart-warming woman she is!
Warm, direct, hard working and super social and involved with both the Portuguese community and the new Portuguese who live here.
In addition to hard work, it was a joy to be fully introduced into her circle of friends.
Laughed a lot at the sharp humor😀.
Julia trusted my… read more
I am a new host and Helma was my second workawayer. Helma is a great and a very special person, very interesting, very human, very good listening and she is an incredible worker, with knowledge and a contagious energy. She did a lot of work and my trees was thank for the new light in their roots, and leaves.
Our… read more
What a heartwarming and wise woman she is!
We quickly knew what we had in each other and respected each other's privacy. We could share and listen, how special that is.
The apartment at her house was not occupied and that is why I was allowed to use it. That is pure luxury. We went to the nice market together and… read more
Photos
Friends
Feedback
This was a wonderful experience.
The welcome, Helena, her mother and her sons, was warm.
I was always welcome to participate in the morning yoga classes and in retrospect I should have done this more often😀.
Helena is clear in communication, the work is not difficult. I could prune and renovate the garden… read more
She applied in a time that I was not really looking for a volunteer but reading her profile made me think I could use some help in the garden not over seeing what really needed to be done!
We didn't agree about a time frame but we started to talk, work, eat, drink and walk around the garden and had… read more
What a heart-warming woman she is!
Warm, direct, hard working and super social and involved with both the Portuguese community and the new Portuguese who live here.
In addition to hard work, it was a joy to be fully introduced into her circle of friends.
Laughed a lot at the sharp humor😀.
Julia trusted my… read more
I am a new host and Helma was my second workawayer. Helma is a great and a very special person, very interesting, very human, very good listening and she is an incredible worker, with knowledge and a contagious energy. She did a lot of work and my trees was thank for the new light in their roots, and leaves.
Our… read more
What a heartwarming and wise woman she is!
We quickly knew what we had in each other and respected each other's privacy. We could share and listen, how special that is.
The apartment at her house was not occupied and that is why I was allowed to use it. That is pure luxury. We went to the nice market together and… read more
My climbing condition has improved a lot. It was wonderful to prune and tie up the lemon trees in peace and tidy up the greenhouse. I spent some hours under the veranda with a 5 star view of the coast, breathtakingly beautiful.
Mark let me get on with my work, made sure there was good food and I felt free to… read more
And she did! She pruned all my small lemon trees on the land and helped me even on the last day of her stay with my first harvest of lemon verbena. She is as she describes in her profile and I found… read more
She fitted from the beginning in the life in Passavant, no questions, no explanations needed – she knows about life and work!
She doesn’t mind doing hard or dirty work, keeps going until she’s happy with the result. So am I… her work quality is outstanding,
She… read more
and… read more
