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We live on an
acreage property with a rainforest arboretum which does require constant work - mulching, planting, pruning, mowing, whipper snippering, weed eradication and a lot of chain saw work, especially after storms.
In order that we can keep on top of things many years ago we joined an organisation called Help Exchange, HelpX for short.
HelpX is a bit like WWoofers but perhaps with a broader charter which allows mostly unskilled people opportunity to have short stays where they can undertake a whole range of tasks related to household and property maintenance.
The usual requirement is 3-5 hours of work per day in return for accommodation and food. We usually show our guests around the area in their non-work time.
We've indeed been fortunate to have had some of the nicest young people you'd ever want to meet stay with us, usually for just a week, though longer stays are possible with many HelpX hosts.
Most of our recent guests have been French university students interspersed with other nationalities from time to time. We can honestly say we have been unbelievably impressed with the respectfullness, trustworthiness, diligence, manners and individual personality of almost every guest we have ever had.
If you've followed my photostream you will be aware that we travel a lot. This has enabled us to catch up again, particularly in Europe, with several of our former HelpX guests, sometimes years after they leave Australia.
The cultural exchange for us is every bit as valuable as the work component of a HelpX stay as most foreign language speakers we have stay with us are here in Australia to improve their English. We've never had a problem communicating even though we don't speak a second language.
Nevertheless, sometimes the communication barrier presents an occasional humorous and rarely, a not so humorous moment. For example, when you send a HelpX worker to the shed to get a wheelbarrow and they come back with a rake or when you ask them to prune a bush and they prune it to the ground.
In every case though the incorrect performance of the task is innocent and needs to be viewed from the context of our role as educators.
Our guests always seem to enjoy their stay with us, if the references they write on our profile are any indication, and the same goes for us. We're often very sad when they move on to their next host but, as any good parent knows, kids have to go out and take the opportunity of new life experiences, so we gratefully say goodby and wish them well in their travels and in their future lives.
Just one final point. Many helpX hosts are just suburban mums and dads with young kids and pets. You don't need to be on a bigger property to enjoy the benefits of a cultural HelpX exchange.
The young man in the image above is Romain from France, a great worker and just an all-round nice guy. Romain was with us for a week in early November 2022.
He had just completed a degree in Business Marketing back home in France before arriving in Australia and was using HelpX to save money, gain new experiences and to improve his English.
There are a few organizations similar to
HelpX.
Others include
WWoofers (World Wide Opportunities on
Organic Farms),
Workaway and Worldpackers.
All these require work in return for accommodation and in most cases provision of food can be negotiated.
A couple of others providing free accommodation but not food include
Global Freeloaders and
Couch Surfing.
Please consider joining and adding
your Handheld Panorama Photos to the Group -
HANDHELD PANORAMAS
