Johnny (Harold John)

Travel information

I am currently

Description

"To story is to be human...To listen 👂 is to love." Having lived in Asia 8 years (China, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India) and Latin America five months, I grew up on la frontera/border 20 km from Mexico. I'm a farmboy (LOTS of weeding and feeding the 🐖s) and am a contemplative kindred spirit, an easygoing lover of wonder, differences, stillness, the "ordinary" and lifelong learning--being challenged to grow out of my comfort zone and find the beauty of life and its parodoxes. I have volunteered eight, one-month times with the L'Arche Community (for those with intellectual disabilities) in Mymennsingh Bangladesh and more than a dozen times with monastic (or retreat) guest/volunteer work programs: organic mushroom farming, painting (a whole monastery basement); library cataloguing, data entry and organization; gardening, dishwashing, cleaning, weeding, kennel puppy rearing, harvesting, planting a long hedge. I have also volunteered at the off the grid, no plumbing White Rose CW Farm Missouri and the El Paso Annunciation House of hospitality for immigrant asylum applicants. By vocation, I taught and also served various immigrant and ethnic minority communities as a Detroit Michigan community organizer and fellow learner around cultural literacy, racial justice, and spiritual formation with the Navigators. I have been a refugee resettlement assistant and international student specialist as well as a Youth Conservation Corp member at the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge and volunteer caregiver (being present to) those in an AIDS hospital wing (Sg Buloh, KL, Malaysia). Learned my bahasa Melayu y Indonesia languages via a three month village homestay where I later directed 7 IVCF summer cultural immersion homestays where American university students taught English in the village school. I also studied Malay in Kuala Lumpur for two years but the 3 mes/month village homestay was most essential. My putonghua Mandarin Chinese was 1000 words when I finished teaching my fourth year in China in 1999. "Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly."

Interests

Music

Books

Vegetarian or vegan

Sustainability

Politics / Social justice

Movies & TV

Culture

Charity work

Writing

Languages

Gardening

History

Animals

Nature

Hiking

Languages

Languages spoken
Spanish: Intermediate
Indonesian: Intermediate
Malay: Intermediate
Chinese (Mandarin): Beginner

More details about my language interests
I've taught English for almost twenty years mostly to non native speakers including four years in China where I learned 1000 words in putonghua, zongwen, Mandarin hanyu

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Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn

I'm interested in:  

DIY and building projects

General Maintenance

Creating/ Cooking family meals

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Some knowledge of:  

Gardening

Being an elderly companion

Life at a Farmstay

Eco Projects

Helping around the house

Animal Care

Hospitality/Tourism

House sitting

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Able to teach about:  

Charity Work

Languages

Teaching

More details about your skills

teaching, mentoring, tutoring, listening, empathy, counseling, organizing, raising animals, gardening, (raised on a farm), weeding, cleaning, painting walls, spiritual formation, guitar

Age

64

What else ...

🎾, ping pong, racquetball, reading, forest bathing, hiking, tennis, other cultures

Some more information

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  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies
  sulfa drugs in medications

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  Special dietary requirements
  vegetarian and humanely raised animal products (dairy, eggs)