Join our Sami reindeer herding family in Northern Norway

Detalles

• 

  Descripción

  Hello and welcome to this profile!
  
  PLEASE READ OUR ENTIRE PROFILE BEFORE APPLYING. THERE ARE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS AND INSTRUCTIONS FOR SENDING US AN APPLICATION IN OUR PROFILE BELOW.
  
  Unfortunately, because we receive so many applications, if you don't send an application according to our instructions below, we can't accept it. Thanks for understanding ☺️
  
  
  ALWAYS LOOKING for someone with CARPENTRY SKILLS, there‘s lots of building to do :-)
  
  
  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
  
  
  Hello! Thank you for your interest in our profile! We are a family of Sami reindeer herders living in Tana, Northern Norway.
  
  Our family consists of:
  Myself (Ellen, the mom)
  Jon (dad)
  2 kids (8 and 15 years old)
  2 Dogs
  Thousands of Wild Reindeer in 2 different districts ☺️
  
  We live in a naturally beautiful area, with many outdoor activities available all throughout the year. Between our two districts we have over 10,000 reindeer. We have to follow the reindeer around to work with them, so we move around a lot in the area of Finnmark. Be prepared for long distances and staying in many different places.
  Because our work is with wild animals, our work depends on what the herd is doing over a vast amount of dramatic landscape, which changes at different times of the year or different times of the day. As the wind does. We cannot guarantee your full stay will be helping directly with the reindeer, because it is not up to us. Our schedule for the year follows the seasons, the weather and the reindeer and it's always a little bit different. We can guarantee that your stay will be full of constantly changing plans! Being a flexible volunteer is a must.
  
  If you are planning your trip to north of the Arctic Circle, please be smart about the outdoor gear that you bring. We have some back up of certain sizes but you should guarantee your warmth with wool layers, a hat to protect your head from the warble fly, rain gear, footwear that will survive getting run over by wild animals and outer wear that won't get shredded.
  
  For more information about our life with the reindeer and the weather and our work, please have a look below in our general schedule for the year!
  
  We usually have a volunteer car around, so you can go to some places around here on your free days. We will always supply you with food. It's a lot of physical work around here so it's important that you eat well.
  
  Please note, our family works like a team, so in all of these tasks you will almost always be with someone ☺️
  
  
  Thank you so much!
  
  We hope to hear from you soon,
  
  Ellen, the family, and all the reindeer ☺️
  
  
  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
  
  MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
  • Minimum age of 25
  • You did at least one Workaway stay before
  • Driver’s License (manual/stick)
  • You like children
  • Fun and outgoing attitude
  • Sense of humor a BIG plus ☺️
  • In good physical shape
  • Great communication skills
  • Hardworking, responsible, and flexible with work
  • Ability to eat reindeer meat (most of our meals)
  • You MUST be a self-starter. If there’s not something going on, it’s really nice to have someone that just starts cleaning or doing small tasks to help out. No one will ever be upset coming home to a clean house! Keeping the kitchen clean is always an easy goto if you are wanting to do something in the moment.
  • Good memory to help Ellen remember things that need to be done!
  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
  
  TO APPLY:
  Please send us a message with the following information:
  • THAT YOU READ OUR ENTIRE PROFILE AND MEET OUR MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS. Please include this first. We get so many messages on a daily basis that aren’t personalized, so unfortunately if you don’t include this, we can’t accept your application.
  • A few sentences about yourself and where you’re coming from
  • Why you want to volunteer with us
  • How long you intend to stay (usually we accept people staying for one month, the wen can see how it's going and if you wan to stay maybe a few weeks longer) and dates
  • Previous Workaways and past work experiences
  • Language Skills
  • Allergies or dietary restrictions
  • If you are available for a video chat interview (messenger/whatsapp) before being accepted
  • Anything else you want us to know!
  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• 

  Tipos de ayuda y oportunidades de aprendizaje

  Práctica de idiomas

  Jardinería

  Construcción y bricolaje

  Cuidado de animales

  Cuidado de niños y juegos creativos

  Cocinar para toda la familia

  Ayuda doméstica

  Mantenimiento general
• 

  Objetivos de sostenibilidad de las NU que intenta conseguir este anfitrión

  ...

  ...

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  ¿Que es esto?
• 

  Intercambio cultural y oportunidades de aprendizaje

  You will be living with a Sami family (the Indigenous people living in northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia). You will learn about Sami culture, history, and language. We hope that you will take away new knowledge of what it's like to be part of traditions that are thousands of years old. Reindeer herding is such a complex job. You always have to pay attention to the weather. Many people forget that we aren't herding domesticated animals. These are wild reindeer which can make our job very difficult at times. We love our culture and traditions and are excited to teach more people about what life is like for us ☺️

• 

  Proyectos con niños

  En este proyecto podría haber niños. Para obtener más información, consulta nuestras directrices y consejos aquí.

• 

  Ayuda

  GENERAL HELP: All Year Long
  
  • Cooking and baking (we mostly bake our bread ourselves)
  • Cleaning and organizing (We're always moving houses/cabins)
  • Childcare, language and conversation
  • Driving
  • Walking the dogs
  
  
  GENERAL SCHEDULE FOR THE YEAR
  
  This schedule should give you an idea about the work we do in each season, but keep in mind: plans always change!
  
  
  FEBRUARY/MARCH/APRIL
  This is the brighter half of the winter! The sun is coming back in February after a long period of darkness. There is still snow everywhere and temperatures can go down to -35 degree Celsius. When the winter is especially hard we have to regulary drive up to the mountains and give extra food to the reindeer. This happens mostly in February, maybe also March.
  April and March are the best month to be in the mountains! There is still a lot of snow an the sun is completely back! This is a fantastic time of year for ice fishing, skiing, and snowmobiling. At the end of April, the reindeer start to give birth to calves! Also the reindeer start moving from the winter area to the summer area. This might last until May. There might be some reindeer work in taking the herd to the summerland before the calving starts, but we don’t know when exactly, it really depends on the reindeer and the weather.
  April is a very good month for doing carpentry work in the cabins we have in the mountains. Knowledge of power tools, measuring, and building is very helpful.
  
  
  MAY/JUNE/JULY
  
  No reindeer work in these moths they are all happy, safe and sound up in the mountains by themselves :) But in July we have to start repairing reindeer fences up in the mountains for the calfmarking season. And you still get to live with a reindeer herding family and lots of reindeer stuff around! And there is always some carpentry work that needs to be done! These months are perfect for hiking in the mountains (as soon as the snow melted). We have the midnight sun around this time of the year, so there is no darkness at all!
  Beware as soon as its getting warm (June, July) there will be many, many mosquitos! The last snow of the season might stay until the beginning of June though.
  
  
  AUGUST/SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER
  
  Mostly August is the month for earmarking the calves, but it could also be that this happens first in September. Earmarking reindeer is is a lot of fun, but the days are long and are physically demanding because we are physically handling wild reindeer in the fence. You will definitely feel the work every day after, and maybe get some more muscles! The earmarking period is usually about two or three weeks long in each district, these weeks might overlap also. Earmarking means, the herders will gather a large flock of reindeer who then go into a smaller fence, where we catch them and sort them. Some reindeer will be slaughtered, most of them go back into the wild. The work takes place up in the mountains, so civilisation is quite far away. Depending on the district we are working in, there might not even be electricity - so no comfort at all, but a lot of wild nature!
  Also: August is a great time of year to pick arctic cloud berries, which are DELICIOUS! We pick lots of them and make jam for the year. Beware, August still has a lot of mosquitos!
  In September it's starting to get colder and the midnight sun has ended, darkness is coming back slowly and you will be able to see the first northern lights. We will be in both districts, Ellens and Jon Andreas', depending on the weather, the movement of the reindeer and the work that needs to be done. Also the slaughter season starts in September/October. So we will be physically handling reindeer in the fence again. Sometimes calfmarking and slaughtering are happening at the same time. In October it's also time to prepare for winter again. We might have to repair more reindeer fences before the snow is coming.
  
  
  NOVEMBER/DECEMBER/JANUARY
  
  In November the darkness starts and in December and January we have complete darkness. At some point we will be working outside with the reindeer in a fenced area separating the herds and transferring them into the winterland. It could be at any point for about a week in these months. The days will be long and it can reach -35 degrees Celcius. When we handle reindeer, the work is very physically demanding, so be prepared for some long days! Because of the time of year, this work can be very difficult. We never know when exactly the reindeer will come into the fence, that depends on the herds and on the weather.
  We sometimes drive snowmobiles to check on the reindeer herds in the mountains. It's really nice to be in the mountain. It will be a great time of year to see the northern lights!
  
  We like to have couples staying with us, it‘s really hard to be alone up here in the darkness!
  
  
  !!!!!!VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!
  
  NO GUARANTEE FOR REINDEERWORK
  We can never guarantee that you will get to do some reindeer work, even if you come for a whole month. You will always have the chance to see some reindeer at least from the distance, but the physical work with them only happens to specific times that changeovers year a little bit. And it could be that the weather is bad or that the reindeer are too far away from the gathering fences to round them up and do the work that’s supposed to be done. Plans always change!
  
  SLAUGHTERING
  Please note that whenever there is reindeer work, we will also be slaughtering some reindeer. You will NOT be asked to kill any reindeer, but you will see them die via a knife to the base of the skull (which paralyzes them) and then a cut to the throat to drain the blood. We will then skin and butcher the reindeer, and may ask for some help with this. After taking the meat back home, we will need to cut it down into smaller chunks that we can easily pull out of the freezer to eat. You will be expected to help cut down the meat. We want to give people a heads up on this so you know what you’re getting into!
  
  DARKNESS
  From the end of NOVEMBER until the end of JANUARY we have almost complete darkness. This is really, really hard for body and mind. So please consider this if you want to come in these months. To make it a little bit easier: BRING THE HIGHEST VITAMIN D SUPPLEMENTS YOU CAN FIND and start taking them some weeks before you come here.
  
  BRING SOME GOOD HUMOUR
  However hard the work might be or how (in winter literally) dark the days, we always like joking around a bit, keeping up the good humour! We like having a good working atmosphere with lots of laughs and (also very important!) good food. That really keeps the spirit up :-)
  
  
  ***

• 

  Idiomas

  Idiomas hablados
  Inglés: Fluido
  Norwegian: Fluido
  Sami: Fluido

  Este anfitrión ofrece intercambio de idiomas
  Este anfitrión ha indicado que está interesado en compartir su idioma o aprender otro.
  Ponte en contacto con él para obtener más información.
  
• 

  Alojamiento

  We are Sami and reindeer herders, so we follow the reindeer around. And also we travel between different districts. So we have different houses and cabins. Depending on what time of the year you come and where we live then, you will either stay in one of our small mountain cabins, a tent or the main house. In the months when we are not in the mountains but in our main house, you will be likely to have your own room. During August and September, when we are up in the mountains, you will probably have to share a room because we live in very small cabins then or even sleep in a tent.
  
  We move houses quite a lot, so be prepared for that :)

• 

  Algo más...

  We live near the sea, and there are many opportunities for hiking and exploring the mountains in the area. It’s possible to see wild moose, reindeer, and arctic fox. In the winter, you can also see the northern lights quite often. During winter we get a lot of snow and are always using our snowmobiles. Throughout the year we visit many cabins, which is a great opportunity to get closer to nature. There’s also a small Sami museum nearby in Varangerbotn, which is very informative. There are also some museums on Vardø island, which you can reach by a beautiful drive along the fjord.
  We also have a car for volunteers to drive, and you can borrow that on your two days off per week if you'd like to go somewhere.
  
  THE AREA / HOW TO GET HERE
  Our main house is in a small rural village close to Tana (20 km) in Jon Andreas reindeer district. The other bigger cities nearby are Vadsø (80 km) and Kirkenes (150) km. These places have amenities like cinemas, pubs, shopping centres etc.
  The nearest airports are also Kirkenes (2 hours drive) and Vadsø (60 minutes drive), although it is probably cheaper and more convenient to fly to Kirkenes. There are busses at least twice a day, that usually match the flights (for bus timetables check Snelandia).
  
  When we are staying in Ellen's district, the closest airports are in Alta or Tromsø. The winter place for Ellen's reindeer is close to Kautokeino, that's the Sami centrum in the north. The summer place is between Tromsø and Alta at the coast.

• 

  Un poco más de información

  • 

    Acceso a Internet

  • 

    Acceso a Internet limitado

  • 

    Tenemos animales

  • 

    Somos fumadores

  • 

    Puede alojar familias

• 

  Espacio para aparcar autocaravanas

  Este anfitrión puede proporcionar un sitio para autocaravanas.

• 

  ¿Cuántos voluntarios puedes hospedar?

  Dos

Seguridad Web

Comentarios (14)