Welcoming Volunteers: do we have the right attitude?

My name is Maël. I was born in Auroville in 1994 and was partially raised here – the other part of my education happened in France. I am now settling back in Auroville. 

During my study of Social Anthropology, I wrote a masters’ thesis on Auroville based on a six-months fieldwork during which I had been in contact with a lot of volunteers, thanks mainly to ‘La Maison des Jeunes’ which mainly hosts ‘Savi’ Volunteers, where I was living then. Today, many of them – as well as new arrivals – are good friends. Although I am a ‘child of Auroville’, I also feel very close to volunteers and Newcomers, perhaps because I’ve spent half of my life outside of Auroville. Feeling that I’m more or less sitting in the middle, if not on both chairs, I felt a call to share my perspectives.

Auroville is an inspiring dream, isn’t it? Year after year, our community attracts an increasing number of volunteers from all around the world. Auroville is seen as a platform to explore oneself, to progress and grow, while contributing to an extraordinary human experiment. And in fact, whatever reasons brought us here, we are all in essence ‘voluntary workers of Auroville’. This also applies to our volunteers. We are here to dedicate our time and energy towards the making of ‘the City of Dawn’. 

Nevertheless, it seems to me that with our different statuses – Aurovilians, Newcomers or volunteers – come different ways of being considered by the collective. Some freshly arrived volunteers even voice a perceived feeling of injustice. 

So what is it that creates this feeling? Could it be linked with the inner attitude that we, as residents of Auroville, have when it comes to welcoming and integrating these new ‘voluntary workers of Auroville’?

Perhaps this investigatory journey could start with a very simple question: for many of us who actually don’t know a lot of volunteers, how do we imagine them? Do we imagine them as being in resonance with our values, or totally disconnected from what makes the core of Auroville? Do we imagine them as dedicated and hardworking, or as lazy and profiteering? Do we envisage them as explorers of the new consciousness, or as relics of the ‘old world’? 

Given our diversity, I assume there are many answers to the above questions. But there is another very important one we need to consider first: what are the beliefs we hold about ourselves? 

Several Aurovilians, to my knowledge, are here for a new kind of adventure. Auroville stands for the birth of a new species, the ‘Supramental’, and many of us came to dare this journey into the unexpected. But while many consider that we’re far from being there, just having this somewhat far-fetched goal can also create quite some expectations, and build a lot of ego in us. Being born in Auroville, I know very well the pride and ego that partially comes from the feeling of somehow being a ‘chosen one’. We perceive Auroville as being different from what we commonly call the ‘old world’, which tends to create a slight feeling of superiority that may carry over into our relation with volunteers. After all, don’t they come from this outside reality that many have chosen to leave behind? And on top of that, aren’t most of them strangers to the writings of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo – and thus living in a somehow parallel world?

In other words, through our limited lenses we tend to focus on what we perceive as the differences rather than on what unites us. Our pedestal and our beliefs tend to distort our perspective: we create a gap where there is none. 

Because of this perceived difference, volunteers tend to be treated differently from residents, creating in some of them a feeling of injustice.  

For example, while volunteers are voluntarily offering their services, in many cases not much is given in return. Many of the Auroville units where volunteers work do not cover their basic costs such as transport, lunch scheme, contribution to Auroville (900 Rs monthly, mandatory for all registered volunteers) and shelter. In restaurants, shops and workshops, volunteers do not necessarily have access to the same discount as Aurovilians. Moreover, some of our ‘youth hostels’ which are meant to offer housing solutions to long-term volunteers at cost price actually function as business units. It is no wonder, then, that some volunteers feel a sense of injustice: in addition to being considered ‘free labour’, they are also being used by some Aurovilians to make money. 

Another very important contributor to this feeling of injustice is the unequal access allowed to the Matrimandir and its gardens. While Newcomers can access both at the same times as Aurovilians, volunteers are asked to come at guests’ timings. Only if they are able to justify that their working hours are not compatible with guests’ timings and that nevertheless they had been going there regularly for the last couple of months – which is a paradox – can they apply for a pass which gives them access at another specific slot. Many volunteers are not aware that a process exists for them to get such a pass, and some of them feel discouraged to access the Matrimandir, even though they have a longing for it. 

If we really perceived volunteers as being part of us, would equal access to the ‘Soul of Auroville’ ever be put in question? 

Of course, these are generalisations. Many units treat their volunteers with utmost care and respect. Among other inspiring projects, ‘La Maison des Jeunes’ provides housing solutions at cost price. Some volunteers do not experience any feelings of injustice but feel privileged to be in Auroville, a place that offers them so many opportunities for self-growth and acquiring new skills. Moreover, one could say that Auroville offers to everyone – volunteers included – what is needed for their growth and progress. 

Yet we cannot brush the concerns of those who feel disadvantaged under the carpet. Rather we can welcome these feelings as opportunities to grow as a collective and explore ways to support each other while creating a common field of oneness, togetherness and unity. 

Above all, we are invited to remind ourselves that we all came here as volunteers in some sense, and that it was the beginning of a long journey into a deeper understanding and appreciation of this unique place. We all know we still have very far to go in realizing our individual and collective ideals. But why can we not, out of humility rather than ego, offer the same understanding and opportunity to today’s volunteers, some of whom may also be embarking, or even far advanced, upon the same path that we are walking?