Thomas

Reino Unido
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I enjoy exploring nature, hiking through moutains, forest and hills. Aside my interest in learning languages, I enjoy exchanging culture through music, dance, food and stories.
Meu próximo destino:
Cali, Colombia - desde Abr 2026 até Jun 2026
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Descrição
---- EN ----

My name is Tom, I recently finished my PhD in Neuroscience in Portugal. In parallel to the PhD, I advocated for diversity in science and social mobility, where I set-up an association that combines science and street art to engage children from social neighbourhoods.

My interest in permaculture started when I had an urban garden in Manchester to grow fruit and veg. This developed when I became a member of a local food cooperative in Portugal, where I understood the role of cooperatives and the value of collective, organic and ethical food production/consumption. For me it was always important to be with others and cultivate a sense of community.

Besides my passion for diversity and sustainability, I enjoy cooking and arts, such as, painting, life-drawing and theatre. Being in nature is equally important to me, where I can do hikes, bouldering and camping.

Since I’ve started my travels, I’ve discovered Capoeira Angola; it has been a great way to connect with people through movement, singing and music. Through Workaway, I hope to exchange knowledge and develop new skills from different cultures, be it in nature or amongst communities.

---- ES ----

Mi nombre es Tom, recientemente terminé mi doctorado en Neurociencia en Portugal. Paralelamente al doctorado, abogué por la diversidad en la ciencia y la movilidad social, donde establecí una asociación que combina ciencia y arte callejero para involucrar a niños de barrios vulnerables.

Mi interés en la permacultura comenzó cuando tuve un huerto urbano en Manchester para cultivar frutas y verduras. Esto se desarrolló cuando me convertí en miembro de una cooperativa de alimentos local en Portugal, donde comprendí el papel de las cooperativas y el valor de la producción/consumo de alimentos colectivo, orgánico y ético. Para mí siempre fue importante estar con otros y cultivar un sentido de comunidad.

Además de mi pasión por la diversidad y la sostenibilidad, disfruto cocinar y las artes, como la pintura, el dibujo del natural y el teatro. Estar en la naturaleza es igualmente importante para mí, donde puedo hacer senderismo, boulder y acampar.

Desde que comencé mis viajes, he descubierto la Capoeira Angola; ha sido una excelente manera de conectar con las personas a través del movimiento, el canto y la música. A través de Workaway, espero intercambiar conocimientos y desarrollar nuevas habilidades de diferentes culturas, ya sea en la naturaleza o entre comunidades.
Interesses
Fazenda
Trabalho beneficente
Sustentabilidade
Política/justiça social
Dança
Eventos e social
Cultura
Jardinagem
Idiomas
Desenho e pintura
Arte e design
Faça você mesmo
Atividades ao ar livre
Naturaleza
Camping
Montanhas
Caminhada
Ciclismo
Idiomas
Idiomas
Inglês: Fluente
Português: Intermediário
Espanhol: Iniciante
Mais detalhes sobre meu interesse em idiomas
Esta pessoa indicou ser um workawayer com interesse em compartilhar seu(s) idioma(s) ou em aprender um novo. Entre em contato diretamente para discutir o assunto.
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Habilidades e conhecimento para compartilhar ou aprender
Tenho interesse em:
Jardinagem
Projetos ambientais
Trabalho beneficente
Idiomas
Projetos artísticos
Quais são suas habilidades?
Throughout my time in Lisbon, I was engaged in science outreach in social neighbourhoods. There, I organised art and science activities for children in the hope to facilitate cultural exchange and social empowerment.

Aside from outreach, I have been part of a cooperative where I worked on an urban garden producing fruit and veg. I enjoy volunteering at festivals and have experience in site construction and decoration. I've enjoyed living in Portugal, learning the language and discovering new hobbies such as climbing, hiking, life drawing, and dance.
Idade
29
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- Fumante
- Carteira de motorista
- Alergias
- Dietas especiais

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Comentário

5 jun. 2026

Deixado pelo anfitrião (Join us to create sustainable ...) para o Workawayer ()

What a wonderful experience hosting Tom!

Coming in as a last minute volunteer, Tom integrated instantly and beautifully into our place and our activities. At the time we worked mostly on our regenerative farming project and he helped a lot with chop & dropping, mulching, seeding and planting.. apart from some daily maintenance tasks.

Tom is a… read more

(Excelente )

24 mai. 2026

Deixado pelo Workawayer () para o anfitrião (Join us to create sustainable ...)

Joep and Juul were wonderfully friendly and welcoming hosts. Both truly inspiring people, and like most who spiral around in this world, they have accumulated a wealth of skills along their journey - and are more than happy to share them. From gardening, reforestation and bioconstruction during your shifts, to archeology, architecture, history and… read more

(Excelente )

24 mai. 2026

Deixado pelo Workawayer () para o anfitrião (Join our NGO to provide ...)

In honesty I was left with mixed feelings. The exposure to humanitarian aid was powerful and the cause was important where your work has direct impact to those who need it most. Moreover, the local volunteers, mostly who were previously caminantes from Venezuela, were inspiring and a pleasure to work alongside with. I have for sure taken home a… read more lot of moving moments with them and my fellow international volunteers.

I am also grateful to have been given this opportunity to work and support these vulnerable groups despite no prior experience in migration (although I have experience in social work).

That said, the management and structure of the organisation have some serious issues, while I thought this was a coincidence that I was working in a period with extremely low volunteers (we were 5 when the typical capacity should be 10-15), having spoken to other previous volunteers it seems to be a recurring issue. I was fine working more than the 25hrs stated on the description, as I was prepared for sudden changes and was happy to cover. However, no being compensated later, or not having a schedule out until the night before made it very hard to plan your afternoons/mornings, so you're basically always on-call. This is exhausting and unfair. I'd say on average I was doing on average 50hr weeks and during my time off I was mostly resting at home from the exhaustion. I felt mostly trapped between the volunteers house and the shelters. This could be resolved with a clear weekly schedule being released. I tried to intervene and propose a schedule to ease the workload of coordinators but this was ignored... This micromanagement doesn't work when they describe the types of work as "unpredictable".

I was surprised by the lack of transparency and openness given the organization claims to be a non-profit NGO. Several times I requested to see the annual budget but have still yet to receive any news. It was important to see the finance distribution in the organisation as I wanted to organise a fundraiser to help attract more donations to the shelter.

Secondly, from my observations, the dignity afforded to local volunteers is starkly different: they are not employed on work contracts, they are paid below the minimum wage, staff cannot meet with them outside of work hours, and they are broadly treated differently to international volunteers. NGOs should promote equity, integrity, and dignity; however, these structural issues contradict those very concepts.

The induction was useful to inform about safeguarding and the purpose of this organisation. However, you will not be treated as an adult as you are strictly forbidden to interact with locals from Pamplona the only social activities are mediated through "community projects" so for you to make friends beyond the international volunteers is restricted - so forget any form of cultural exchange.

On reflection, with regard to the coordinators, while I initially believed their interests were aligned with a more equal and fairer world, this was called into question when considering why they would continue to work with an organisation with all these flaws and obscurities. I raised my concerns several times at feedback sessions and at one-to-ones, but was frequently dismissed and told to log them in the feedback forms.

Given all these drawbacks and stark differences to the description of the work away profile, I don't think it's fair for young adult with good moral intentions to be exploited by this NGO that also relies on the fact that volunteers will only be short-term workers so they don't need to reassess their model.

To summarise: a meaningful but exhausting experience. With understaffing, scheduling chaos, inequitable treatment of local volunteers, gap between the advertised and actual experience, definitely worth considering carefully before committing and maybe reaching out to previous volunteers.

(Neutro )

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