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Help Exchange, HelpX for short, was launched back in April 2001 by Rob Prince from England. He has travelled extensively throughout Australia and New Zealand over several years, during which time he worked at several locations for accommodation and sometimes for meals, as well. These places were usually farms or backpackers hostels. He sometimes used the casual system where owners of farms ask for help by putting up notices on hostel notice boards. There are also schemes producing booklets that list such places. But, realising the best way for many prospective helpers to find suitable hosts was via a system that operated online and finding there was no such thing available, he decided to develop one himself. It was a great opportunity to put his new Web development skills into use after gaining a Diploma in Internet Technology.
HelpX has steadily grown over the years both by number of hosts and helpers as well as by continual further development adding new features and improvements all the time. Two years after HelpX was launched Rob had a life changing accident whilst paragliding which resulted in extensive injuries to his lower legs and feet. Due to complications Rob could not walk unaided for nearly 4 years and even now has only limited mobility. What was a disaster for Rob proved to be a boost for HelpX as Rob was stuck at home for along time and so to make good use of his time and keep his mind off his predicament he channelled most of his energy into further developing HelpX.
Now that Rob is well enough to travel again and HelpX has grown much larger Rob is now visiting hosts advising them how to get the most out of the HelpX system as well as getting direct feedback on how well its working from both hosts and helpers perspectives. From this feedback he finding even more ways to fine tune and further develop the HelpX system.
We hope you find Help Exchange to be a useful service. Help Exchange relies heavily on word of mouth for new members to discover the service, so please pass the word on to others who may be interested in it. You may wish to put up poster at your local host's, backpacker hostel, information center, internet
cafe. Click here for our poster
page.
Rob Prince
Founder of Help Exchange
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