From: United Kingdom
Couple account
Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia (Slovak Republic)
18/04/2019 - 13/07/2019
766
2019 UPDATE:
Since we travelled in Latin America & India from 2012 to 2016, Sarah has been working as a yoga teacher, specialising in mother & baby yoga, Henry has been working in TV, and we have learned the vital skills of parenthood! Now we are travelling around Europe for three months with our little boy, Sam, before he starts school and before his little brother or sister arrives later in the year.
We loved our experiences of Workawaying in Latin America and would love for Sam to enjoy the benefit of staying with local families to really experience the best that the areas we visit have to offer. He loves making new friends & helping out wherever he can.
_____________________________
We are a couple (plus our son) with a wide range of skills and tonnes of enthusiasm for developing more! We became disillusioned with life in the UK, so we quit our successful careers in September 2012 to travel through Latin America with a mission to experience new things, meet interesting people and try everything once (or more). Three years of volunteering later, we are doing the same in Spain, where we one day hope to run a guesthouse and yoga retreat of our own. We are equally happy & efficient working together or individually and have no time limits.
Gardening
Building
Babysitting / child care
General Maintenance
Cooking / shopping
Farmstay
Other
Help with Eco project
Help in the house
Animal care
Helping with Tourists
Charity work
Language practice
Art project
Help with Computers / internet
Teaching
Sarah:
I have a degree in Psychology, I love people & animals and see everyone as equal. That´s how I treat people, mutual understanding and respect is important to me. I love talking, learning from others/about others, I´m sociable and inquisitive by nature. I have a lot of experience working with vulnerable people, adults & children.
I studied Art at school / college and have been working around Latin America painting walls, designing murals & gardens.
As a trained Psychology and health teacher I have managed up to 50 people, trained other teachers and counselled staff through difficult political union issues, and although I do not believe in the education system we have in the UK anymore, I feel strongly that children are given access to develop life skills and look after themselves.
Leaving all this behind and in search of a radically new path, we are following our dream of one day being hostel owners and working towards self-sufficiency: We have particular interests & have developed skills in:
- Permaculture & aguaponics
- Natural eco-construction & using various tools safely
- Macrame jewellery making
- Mosaic
- Documentary development.
Henry:
I have a university degree in Communication Studies (ie. sociology, media & film studies, journalism, law, linguistics, psychology...), including print media, radio & video training. I have very good use of English and love communicating with people.
I have years of experience working in the television industry, working with scripts and video research. I started out in TV news, so have a firm grounding in accuracy and working at speed, as part of an efficient team. I have worked in a variety of environments, in the UK and Australia, from live public events and concerts to small private conferences to huge entertainment extravaganzas, and work closely with everyone from celebrity television presenters & executive producers to studio floor managers & electrical engineers. I am used to being thrown in at the deep end and having to work efficiently with new crews of people, while also being a team of one and taking responsibility for my own work.
I love photography, having studied it at secondary (high) school, and travel with several cameras! I have been asked to take photos for some friends' weddings and have contributed pictures to websites.
I was a member of my local youth theatre company and studied Production Technology at secondary (high) school: I helped to stage plays, assisting the director and guiding the technical departments in my role as Stage Manager; I was often involved in set building (utilising carpentry skills) and lighting & sound design (using electrics).
I have had lifesaving training and worked as a swimming pool lifeguard for 4 years.
English, Spanish
37 & 40
British
We took a month of Spanish lessons at the start of our travels and have been determined to improve since then. We would say we are now at a high-intermediate level.
We have had lots of experiences with volunteering in Latin America over the last three years; for example:
- helping at a school for children with special needs;
- helping at an after-school educational support project & adult English classes;
- running several different hostels & guesthouses;
- painting wall murals in different hostels;
- garden design & landscaping;
- animal husbandry at a rescue & rehabilitation centre;
- various work on chacras / fincas / small farms: permaculture, adobe construction, mosaic, building solar-powered electric fencing, constructing steps, fruit harvesting and preservation, vegan cooking...;
- researching & writing scripts for a film project about German immigration in Chile...
Smoker
Driver's licence
Allergies
No
Special dietary requirements
No
