WorkAway 1- Happy House Farm

Before leaving on this journey of mine, I signed up for a profile on a Work Away website which is a database of worldwide exchange opportunities. The "hosts" will offer food and/or accommodation to the "workawayer" in return for 4-5 hours of work per day. The work can vary from farming to teaching to building, you name it. Visits can last from a few days to a few months. I decided to participate for a few reasons: 1) to have the opportunity to gain new skills, experiences, and cultural insight, 2) to get off the "backpacker trail" and explore the raw and real non-tourist side of the world, and 3) to make my travel budget last longer. Check out the link above to learn more about this wonderful program.

My very first Work Away experience turned out to be super awesome! I spent a week helping out on a small, but growing, eco-farm project in the mountainous countryside of the Philippines just outside the town of Rosario, La Union (roughly a six hour bus ride north of Manila).

New Zealander David, his Filipina wife Carol, and their adorable two year old Kyra were my lovely hosts.

They live in a simple home and have everything they need. And David makes a mean cup of coffee in the morning.

Meals were prepared at the outdoor kitchen over a wood-burning stove. This is Charmaine, their "all around" girl. Although quiet and shy, she is handy, hard working, tough, and very sweet. She survived a bout of Polio as a child and her right half is underdeveloped as a result, but that doesn't stop her from anything. She uses her day off from the farm to go to town and work as an Avon consultant.

This is the "workawayer" living arrangement. Through the door in the back there are five mosquito net clad beds. We used the middle area between the kitchen and bedrooms for relaxing, reading, working out, and playing games. Everyone joins together for meals at the big table. There is electricity available, but no running water or internet.

This is the dishwashing station just in front of "our" house. The silver bucket is for compost.

We used "dry toilets" which are set up like outhouses but after you go, you dump in a mixture of ash and dry grass which creates a layered compost pile that doesn't even smell! The area below has been filled with worms to speed up the process.

Just to give you an idea, my average day went about like this: wake up, do yoga, make breakfast, find out what work there is to be done, do work for a few hours, eat lunch, relax, do some more work maybe, hang out, bucket shower, help make dinner, dine and chat into the night, sleep.

We did lots of activities including-

washing laundry down at the well,

building fences around the water management area,

shoveling a lot of gravel,

repairing some benches,

and preparing and eating delicious, fresh, organic, local, mostly vegetarian (with eggs and some fish) food!

Other non-pictured work included hauling manure, relocating water lines, separating bamboo for burning, and basically whatever other general maintenance or clean up needed to be done at the time.

No worries, we had plenty of free time!

Got completely lost trying to find the ocean.

Said hello to the local animals.

Walked down the street.

Attended a birthday party.

Convinced the kids that Alexis's hair is, in fact, real.

Observed other projects happening at the farm.

Got our peanut butter fix on the bus!

Held group workout sessions.

Taught the local kids how to play "go fish."

Napped and read.

Cooked breakfast.

Found enormous scary spiders!!

And of course pet some cute, cuddly kittens.

The lifestyle was divine and my week at the Happy House Farm was a wonderful reminder that "stuff" is not what will fulfill me. I left the farm with a feeling of accomplishment, not only for helping others with productive projects, but also because I opened a new door within myself. I have immense respect and gratitude for Carol, David, Kyra, and the community for accepting me into their lives.

Already looking forward to my next Work Away. :)