Enjoy a unique way of life with us in Codrington, Barbuda

Infos

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  Description

  We live on Barbuda (Antigua and Barbuda) with two small businesses between us - a cafe/craft shop and an eco-lodge guest house on the beach. We are three generations of one family, from a 70 year old to an eight year old, and a toddler - we don't all live in the same house but we see each other nearly every day - so we need kind, energetic and adaptable people who understand busy family life and can help.
  
  We might also have paying guests so you need to be friendly, adaptable, practical and helpful and a sense of humour is good! You must be comfortable in sometimes challenging situations; living on an island can be difficult and achieving even simple things can be hard work and frustrating, but we always try our best to make it a happy and rewarding experience for you. We have hosted many volunteers in the past and they have helped with all kinds of work and in most cases become great friends. Your contribution is really valuable to us and we enjoy hosting you.
  
  We don't take volunteers without agreeing your start date and end date first. Barbuda isn't easy to get to so we can be flexible for arriving earlier or staying longer if you are travelling in the Caribbean and we understand it's not always easy to plan, and that plans may change, but we don't accommodate volunteers who just turn up.
  
  We mostly take volunteers for about a month but it's always worth asking if you are nearby in the Caribbean and want to visit Barbuda as we sometimes have cancellations, so please do contact us to see if we can fit you in. You really need to be here for at least one week to make your stay worthwhile because getting here is expensive and takes up at least half a day in travel.
  
  We also need you to tell us about your skills/experience so we can make a provisional plan of work for your stay, which will then be finalised when you arrive.

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Projets artistiques

  Aide avec des éco-projets

  Jardinage d'entretien

  Projets DIY créatifs

  Aide dans une ferme

  Baby-sitting et jeux créatifs

  Aide à la maison

  Accueil / tourisme

  Petits travaux d'entretien

  Aide informatique/internet
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  Centres d’intérêt

  

  Livres

  

  Musique

  

  Dev. durable

  

  Écriture

  

  Nature

  

  Activités en plein air
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  Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

  We have always been a tight knit, resilient, self-determining and strongly independent population who are increasingly at odds with the Antigua government about our traditional way of life - we use the whole island communally for fishing and agriculture. Nearly every family here goes fishing and most keep animals for meat.
  
  Until recently we were free from mass tourism, but now we are fighting against so called 'developers' who are trying to enclose our public beaches with miles of fences. They are encouraged by the government of Antigua and have started to build extensively on our southern coastline. But mostly on Barbuda you will still see an unspoilt, rural Caribbean island where the local community is strongly opposed to over-development and the corruption that goes with it.
  
  Barbuda has amazing wildlife and nature, and we encourage you to go out in the village, maybe hire a car or an e bike to see the beaches and meet local people who are welcoming and kind. Although our population has doubled since migrant workers from other parts of the Caribbean have been brought to Barbuda for jobs in construction, we have welcomed them here in the village, and you will soon be invited to take part in family and local community activities and will learn all about the islands fascinating, unique culture and our history.

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  Projets impliquant des enfants

  Ce projet peut impliquer des enfants. Pour en savoir plus, consultez nos directives et conseils ici.

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  Aide

  You don't need to have any qualifications but you must be easy to live with and practical, helpful, sensible, have patience, know how to use your initiative and be able to follow a work routine from 8am to 2pm Monday to Friday.
  
  If you have skill or experience in the following areas - even better:
  
  Painting & decorating
  Help with cleaning the house.
  Landscaping and clearing land of rocks and wood.
  Gardening - weeding/pruning and maintenance (watering plants, cutting the grass).
  
  Childcare including organising activities for children: playing with them safely and baby-sitting.
  
  DIY especially fixing things and general home maintenance and repairs.
  Construction, building.
  Carpentry, Plumbing or Solar.
  Vehicle maintenance/mechanics - we have two old Suzuki Grand Vitaras and a Toyota Hillux pick up.
  
  If you are an expert or qualified in any of the above we will be delighted to agree a specific project in advance to match your skills, but otherwise your work will include some or any of the above. We show you our list of a wide variety of tasks we need help with and you choose the ones you would be good at or happy to do, from that list (ie some of the tasks - not all of the tasks, depending on your area of interest and skill)
  
  You should have energy, enthusiasm and be happy working in a Caribbean climate from 8am to 2pm (with regular breaks) five days a week. You will have every afternoon and weekends off. We encourage you to spend time with local people, exploring the work practices and way of life here. You will spend some of your time working outside when it's cooler and some time inside when it's too hot to be outside.
  
  The tasks could be anything from a simple cleaning or painting job, to building a shed or fixing a car, depending on what you have to offer. And it might change - so for example, if it rains we might want to dig over and prepare the ground and plant seeds. But if it doesn't rain, we might be painting indoors for several days. But we try to make it enjoyable.
  
  Important: please make sure you say which kind of work you are interested in, the skills you can bring to us and the potential dates you would like to come.

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  Langues

  Langues parlées
  Anglais: Courant

  Cet hôte propose un échange linguistique
  Happy to help you improve your English and we have lots of books to read in English.
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  Hébergement

  You will stay where you are working at the time and this could be at the eco-lodge or in our container-cabin guest room (they are both off-grid but with solar lights and a good water supply). You might also stay at home with us.
  
  You will be welcome to use the internet/washing machine etc and we will make sure we see you everyday to provide supplies if you are staying away from our home. This includes wonderful local ingredients - so lots of fish, lobster and other Barbudan produce to cook for yourselves. We do raise, kill and eat our own animals so you will need to be ok with this, but we are very happy to host non-meat eaters and can supply good veggie/vegan food supplies - although special diets can be very difficult on Barbuda as we can only buy what grows here, or what the boat brings in twice a week.
  
  We provide all your food once you tell us what you need, but you should also buy your own local street food as there are several really nice fast food sellers and snack shops here on Barbuda. We don't provide alcohol and snacks but we do have happy hours!

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  Autres infos...

  We have had many previous volunteers who have quickly made friends here; enjoying the lifestyle, the beaches and going fishing, beach-combing and out on boat trips. Antigua and Barbuda are expensive, as most things are imported and we pay an even higher cost to get it to us here on Barbuda. So you will need your own funds to pay for your time-off activities, and for car hire you need to buy a local driving licence. But you will be supporting the local economy, making friends and experiencing much more than just our lives here if you ask local people to take you out and show you Barbuda from their point of view.
  
  You will come to Barbuda via Antigua, as the ferries and/or flights for Barbuda leave from Antigua so you should budget for at least one overnight stay in Antigua at the start and maybe one more at the end of your stay with us. We occasionally go to Antigua to buy groceries and for other essential services when we need to, but it is very expensive for us to do this, so you should try to bring anything you can't live without before you get to Barbuda. You can also arrive on Barbuda directly here as yacht crew but only stay here after you have been through immigration.
  
  Our home is about twenty minutes walk from the village and the nearest beach (unless you are staying on the beach in the cabana) so walking or cycling there and back is possible if you are fit, but the best beaches are further away and there is NO PUBLIC TRANSPORT on Barbuda.
  We have our own shared family vehicles we use most days running around for school, work and shopping but if they break down they can be out of action for weeks while we look for parts so we are very careful with them and we rarely let volunteers use them unless you can fix them! We go out to the beach now and then for picnics, happy hours and camping and we will invite you if we go, but we don't go very often. You can hire bikes or get taxis if you want to go out every day, and hiring a car at the weekend is the most affordable option to see the island in your time off.
  
  There is only one village so there are not many shops but there are a few rowdy bars and lots of street food sellers. There are often church, community and sports events in the village and you will be made welcome if you make the effort to go.
  
  Barbuda is small, quiet and isolated and so we will do our best to help you understand everything about Barbuda and share our love of it with you.

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  Informations complémentaires

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    Accès Internet

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    Accès Internet limité

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    Nous avons des animaux

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    Nous sommes fumeurs

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    Familles bienvenues

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Deux

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  Mes animaux

  Chickens

  Cows

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