The volunteer’s experience

Keywords: Volunteers, Savi, Buddha Garden farm, Auroville Consulting, Auroville Earth Institute (AVEI) and Green Belt

Volunteering at Nandanam school

My experience of Auroville started in August 2013, as an intern at the Auroville Earth Institute. For six months, I had the chance to lead a research project on a promising new technology for construction, Poured Earth Concrete. I found it exciting to move towards highly ecological products and techniques. From another perspective, Auroville has provided me with a chance to explore myself, and I realized that I wanted to get a deeper and longer experience of that. I came back a few months later for a one-year volunteering experience, which happened to be in the field of renewable energy with Auroville Consulting. There I was given the responsibility of making a study of solar photovoltaic systems in Auroville, which should be a helpful tool to take decisions on the electrical situation in the Green Belt.

Regarding my first volunteering experience, having the trust of my mentors allowed me to concretize quickly any decision I found relevant for the research. This freedom and empowerment caused an exponential increase in my interest and attachment to this project, which I continue to follow up today.

During my second volunteering experience at Auroville Consulting, I discovered a new way of caring for each volunteer as a unique individual, which also had its positive effect on my involvement. As much as possible, the strengths of each one are elegantly put forward and one always finds whatever type of help is needed to overcome one’s personal weaknesses. Thanks to an excellent follow-up from my mentors, Martin and Vikram, who never exerted unjustified pressure or gave discouraging feedback, I ended up carrying and presenting the projects I worked on with great goodwill.

Before I came back to Auroville in last July, I was familiar with the old contribution waivers policy. Upon my return, I was slightly shocked to discover that a new policy had come into existence, which says that the volunteer has to pay a monthly contribution of Rs 900. The Financial Service told me – with little compassion – that I should pay for my expenses (right after scratching the bottom of the bank account to buy a flight ticket and get a visa), my accommodation, my food and, on top of that, pay the volunteers’ contribution to Auroville. But aren’t all volunteers already contributing to Auroville’s quality of life by working more than 18 hours per week?

I question the new policy, as it can lead to the feeling of being slightly despised and to incomprehension from the volunteer who is coming here to offer his work. Why should a volunteer not get the Aurocard (whose purpose is to help in limiting money transfers) if he cannot pay? Shouldn’t Auroville rather ask the unit for whom the volunteer is providing free service to contribute this amount? I would find it very exciting if not only this change could be made in the policy, but if also all Auroville units would be told to cover as much as possible the expenses of the volunteers. This is what the two units I have been working for have done since the beginning.