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WWOOF: World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms

If you are planning to do some WWOOFing with us at The Organic Learning Center,

These are things you should bring with you when WWOOFing at The Organic Learning Center,

  • A light colored brimmed hat for the sun…really important.
  • Work gloves…thin enough to grip tools…really important.
  • Wide mouth water bottle easy to refill…important.
  • Long sleeve white shirts for sun and weed protection…important.
  • Most people prefer quick drying fabrics for their clothing.
  • Ear plugs if you are bothered by natural night noises… roosters crowing, owls hooting, dogs barking, cats mating, etc.
  • A rechargeable flashlight is always handy.
  • Other than visitors, almost no one uses insect repellent but if you want something special, bring it.
  • Because the fields are very wet every morning from the night dew or rain, it is best to wear waterproof boots while working in the fields. It is not muddy but the grass is very wet.
  • If you want special things, bring it. For example, if you want basic sun screen or insect repellent, it is easy to buy in town but anything special, probably not. Generic medications are readily available but not brand names.

Things you may want to know before coming:

  • Kelley and Timea speak about security. See them here.
  • Recent woofers speak about the work. See them here.
  • If you don’t speak Spanish, there are staff  who welcome the opportunity to practice their English with you.
  • ATM machines in Honduras ONLY use ATM cards….not credit cards. Because the airport has several different ATM machines, that is where I most often use because if one machine doesn’t like my card, another one will.
  • Washing clothes and bed linens is done by hand. Most students wash their clothes each day or two but some do it weekly. We provide the soap and a clothes washing station. Everyone cleans their own room, porch space, dishes, etc. We live as typical Honduran families do where everyone, even children, have things to do and care for.
  • Sleeping situation varies because of WWOOFers coming and going but will generally sleep two or three to a room in single beds.  We try to have a double bed available for couples in their own room. Sometimes wwoofers will share a room with students. As stated on the WWOOF site, we sleep dormitory style but everyone has an individual bed. There are men’s dorms, and there are women’s dorms.
  • The style of composting toilet we use is odor free and often installed within homes. Ours is not in the dormitories but in a separate building. It is totally private, free of flies and odors, and clean. In addition, it is totally environmentally friendly. But, it is NOT a flush toilet. It is a composting toilet.
  • The electricity in Honduras is the same as in the United States…same plug, same voltage, etc.
  • Security has not been an issue with personal items in the room but as for myself (Glen), when I am traveling and sharing space with others, I carry a small luggage lock to put on the zipper of my backpack. You will be able to lock your room door when you leave campus going to town, etc.
  • We have wifi that works fairly well on phones but is slower on laptops but a coffee shop in town has great coffee and free wifi that is much faster. It is a 45 minute walk away.
  • BE SURE you have a copy of all pertinent information you will need to get to our town. Remember you’re in an under developed country where there may not be phone signal when you need it for you to call asking for information you forgot to record.
  • We don’t want the local police thinking our international guests are trafficking drugs. Don’t bring anything illegal on campus. Marijuana is illegal in Honduras.

TOLC vs CAO

FYI, don’t be surprised that in Honduras you will never hear anyone speak about The Organic Learning Center (TOLC). Instead you will hear them talking about CAO. CAO is the Spanish version of TOLC. Centro Aprendizaje Orgánico. CAO in Spanish is pronounced as “cow” in English. Bottom line, when you hear people talking about “cow” they’re not talking about an animal.

Important to know before coming

Everyone one in Honduras uses WhatsApp. Not email. Not texts. Not calls. Only WhatsApp  So, if you want to communicate in Honduras, download and activate WhatsApp.

We have no insurance. If you want insurance coverage, you need to obtain it for yourself. Medical, accident, travel, evacuation, etc. insurances are all YOUR personal responsibility. WWOOF organization offers some but we are not familiar with it.

All volunteers are asked to download our liability waiver and return it to us prior to arriving.

The San Pedro Sula airport, (SAP) is the closest to us. It is important to select a flight arriving during daylight hours because there are no buses at night.

When you first arrive, you will want to be able to communicate. Therefore, you will probably want to have an international calling plan with your provider for the first day. After that, you can get a local SIM card.

Things you may want to see before coming:

Preparing Honduran Immigration Forms

You need this info if you are flying or bussing into Honduras.

The easiest best option when filling out forms for Honduran Immigration, etc. is to list Tourism as your reason for visiting Honduras.

Address: Organic Center, Quimistan, Santa Barbara, Honduras.

Once you arrive at the airport in Honduras, the time to clear through immigration and customs varies but typically between 20 minutes and 45 minutes. Don’t be surprised that they are going to scan your luggage just like they did when you checked in to your airport back home. They want to be sure you’re not bringing weapons etc. into the country. Occasionally they will want to open your bag and look and see what you have but it’s rarely if ever an issue. For example, occasionally a camera can look like a pistol and they will want to check it out.

If you are busing in, we will provide you individual information of which bus to get depending where you’re coming from.

Reminders

  • We highly recommend you buy a ticket that lands during the day.
  • Have you sent us your Liability Waiver?
  • If you want insurance, have you purchased it?

Typical Schedule

Most wwoofers stay with the students all day. That is especially true of those coming to learn organic farming. But, some come for other reasons and take off an occasional afternoon or weekend to go exploring other areas.

The normal schedule is:

  • 6 am coffee and socializing and conversation of daily assignments.
  • By 6:30, everyone is busy on their assignment.
  • 8 to 8:30  breakfast.
  • 12 to 1 is lunch.
  • Finish at 4 pm.
  • Most days at 4 pm some of the students will clean up and go to town for various things…gymnasium, coffee shop, shopping, haircut, etc.
  • Dinner is normally about  6 or 6:30.
  • Normally lights are out at 9 pm.

Saturday we finish at noon. After lunch, some will go to town, swimming, etc. Sunday is off and most Sundays students go somewhere like you see here.

While most volunteers enjoy socializing with the students, there are some volunteers who come to kind of get into the Zen of organic farming and they want quiet time alone with the plants, soil and maybe the animals. In other words, while some volunteers ask to be paired with a student who is conversational, other volunteers asked to be paired with a student who is an introvert.

Bottom line: this is not a cookie-cutter kind of program but instead tailored to the interest of volunteers.

If you are wondering about what’s happening at the time of the year when you are here….

Our work is not very seasonal. It doesn’t change much from season to season. The biggest part of our work is caring for the animals and plants. Caring for the plants and animals is multifaceted, but it’s not very seasonal. For example, we normally harvest plantains and lemons every week 12 months a year. The other things are harvested periodically. There are at least 100 different tasks that volunteers can work on. Evelyn, the farm manager, always tries to accommodate volunteers so they can do what they enjoy doing or what they want to learn more about. Some volunteers prefer working with the animals while others prefer working with the plants. There are a lot of miscellaneous tasks but caring for the plants and animals is the bulk of what we do.

Jacob August: Volunteer at The Organic Learning Center