Are volunteers milk cows?

Sharing my time between two different works, I spend four days a week at TDC-L’Avenir as a waste manager for Bommayapalayam in the scheme of the Auroville bioregional development plan, and I go farming one day a week in AuroOrchard. This is a wonderful opportunity for me to be able to split my time between my hands and my brain. And I would like to thank Auroville for this because my previous job did not allow me to work that way. Today I feel more relaxed, more peaceful.

Is it the integral yoga of Mother and Sri Aurobindo? I guess so! Moreover, if we imagine a world where everyone would have education, how are we going to produce food, to build houses ? Today, the answer came to me clearly. We will have to split our time between the basic needs of the community and more intellectual work.

However, I feel a bit sad to see that so few Aurovilians invest their energy in farming and other hand labour. For instance, there are just twenty farmers in Auroville while there are more than a hundred architects.

There lie some clues that give me the feeling that Auroville can’t sustain itself. For how to sustain this city? So many brains concentrated in the same place, creating, inventing, running the institutions, but where are the hands? Who are the workers?

It seems also a bit strange to me that I have to contribute financially to Auroville by giving a monthly contribution of 900 rupees. Hopefully, I am rich enough to pay it, but this is not the point. I am already working full time five and a half days a week, producing cheap organic edible goods for Auroville and helping to establish waste management systems for the villages around, an important issue which needs to be tackled urgently as it concerns water table pollution and equity between Auroville and the villages around.

Asking a contribution from the volunteers which already contribute to the Aurovilian economy by paying for accommodation, food, workshops is the last straw that breaks the camel back.

Finally we volunteers don’t have the same rights as Aurovilians: no health care, different discounts in restaurants and workshops, no possibility for maintenance. Is it a form of hierarchy ? Are the volunteers the milking cow? We are not Newcomers; we do not commit to be Aurovilian. But still the volunteers are giving their energy for free. We come with our hearts opened, willing to participate in the life of the community.

I do enjoy Auroville, the vision of the Mother. I agree with the Charter. I have met many great people, talented people, committed people. I can feel a good energy. I enjoy this amazing place to live in. And every day I embrace the chance to engage my energy in resonance with my values. I do it honestly. But the current functioning raise many questions. The upcoming Aurovilian retreat could tackle them, and as many Aurovilians seem to be aware of this reality, I trust them to bring back Auroville on track.

They have to learn to work together, to understand each other, and stop fearing bankruptcy. They should solve the economical issues in a smart way, not by always taxing more. I want to work for this project, and I am prepared to do it for free, to contribute to the wealth of the community, but I don’t feel that it’s right to make us pay for working.