Needed Experience and Skills Evaluation

Updated April 24 2002

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While all people are eligible for the visitor and student visitor programs a score of 200 or more is required for the work exchange program.

These questions are for the most part asking what you HAVE done, not what you think you could do. This test isn't a perfect evaluation tool but it should give some idea of what experience and skills we are looking for.

Here is how to figure out your score on a particular question, for example "Handle making - have made 10 handles, score 10". If you have made 2 tool handles score 2. If you have made 25, score 10. If you have made 100, score 10. If you have made 8, score 8.

• Vegetarian Cooking - have made 500 vegetarian meals, score 50
• Open Wood Fire Cooking - have cooked 100 meals, score 40 (marshmallows are not a meal)
• Vegetable Seedling Transplanting - have dug up and replanted vegetable seedlings on 10 occasions or 10 species, score 10
• Canning - have put up 100 jars of preserves, score 10
• Tree Grafting- have successfully grafted 50 trees, score 10
• Fruit Tree Planting - have planted 10 seedling fruit trees, score 10
• Basketry - have made 30 baskets, score 30
• Handle Making - have made 10 handles, score 10
• Fitness - score 10 if in top 10% of population for age and sex - score 20 if in top 1%
• Ability to Catch - score 10 if in top 10% of population
• Laundry by Hand - have washed 20 loads of clothing by hand , score 10
• Tree Felling - have felled 100 thigh-thick trees, score 10
• Felling with Axe - have felled 100 thigh-thick trees with axe, score 30
• Mending - have mended 20 items of clothing, score 10
• Sewing - have sewed 5 items of clothing, score 10
• Inventive Sewing - have sewed 10 products from fabric scraps, score 20
• Splitting Firewood - have split wood on 100 occasions, score 10
• Weeding - have weeded by hand for 10 hrs, score 10
• Hoe Use - have worked in garden with hoe 40 hrs, score 10
• Pottery - have made and fired 20 pottery items, score 10
• Machete Work - 50 hours, score 10
• Child Care - have baby sat a 2 yr old for 100 hrs, score 20
• Parenting - have been the primary care giver for a child for 2 years, score 30 (for each additional child, score 5)
• Concensus Facilitation - have facilitated 10 meetings, score 30

• Mechanical Aptitude and Experience - if in top 10% of population, score 10
• Mechanical Inventiveness - have built 5 original mechanical devices, score 25
• Photography - have a lay or professional interest in photographic theory, score 10
• Basic Construction - have built a shed, score 10
• Advanced Construction - have built a house, score 40
• Tropical Living Experience - have lived in a tropical country for at least 3 months, score 20
• Basic Sharpening - have successfully sharpened: knife, hoe, spade, axe, chisel, machete, scythe, gouge, drill bit, saw, hollowing adze, scissors, for each item score 2
• Impoverished Living Experience - have lived in an impoverished country for at least 3 months, score 20
• Herbal Healing - have gathered and used herbs for healing on 30 occasions, score15
• Wood Carving - have carved 20 items, score 10
• Cabinetry and Finish Carpentry - have 100 hrs experience with hand tools, score 10