The Weltwärts programme

Auroville Today: Why has the North-South programme in Auroville ended?

Karin: During a talk with AVI Germany about it, they mentioned that it became more and more difficult to find the needed number of minimum 12 participants to make the programme financially viable. This is because while 75% of the money comes from the government, 25% has to come from the volunteers and the body which is organising it – which, in our case, was AVI Germany. The main problem is that young people in Germany do not want to spend a full year volunteering in another country any more as they seem keener to pursue their education in Germany. Also the extreme amount of paperwork required became more and more difficult to deal with year by year.

The South-North programme which I was also mentoring had expanded so much that I stopped working with the North-South programme two years ago so I could continue with this programme, which doesn’t encounter the same difficulties because the administration is done in Germany. 

What projects did the German volunteers work on in Auroville?

According to German Government regulations, they had to be in the educational, social or environmental sectors. So they worked, for example, in schools like AIAT (Auroville Institute of Applied Technology), Aikiyam and Udavi, but also Thamarai, Botanical Gardens, Auro-Orchard, Discipline Farm, WasteLess, the Recycling Centre, Sunlit Future and Deepam.

Was mentoring these volunteers a big responsibility?

Sometimes, but I did not do it alone. For the North-South programme Gabi, Andy, Juergen and Kanniappan were also mentors. A few times our mentoring team had to mediate between the volunteer and the management of the project they had chosen before coming here, because sometimes expectations were too high on both sides and each had to make adjustments. The wonderful part of this work was always to see the changes on both sides after a few months.

Also, while each workplace appointed a mentor to support us in looking after the volunteers at work, outside working hours they were our responsibility. Although they were also expected to take responsibility for themselves, in the early days they would phone us and want us to fix things because they were having problems with the heat or ants in the bed and, later, we would get calls at night because their moped had broken down while they were out with friends, or they had had an accident. One of them drove into a goat in a village and Kanniapan had to sort it out.

We also tried to make sure that they were not associating with the wrong people and that they were working regularly at the projects they had chosen: always one or two were not so regular.

Generally, however, the managers of the projects were happy with the fresh energy the volunteers brought in, and the volunteers themselves said they got a lot out of the experience: for some of them, particularly those who were looking for a direction in life, it was life-changing. A few have joined Auroville, three are long-term volunteers and one former volunteer got married here and lives nearby. Others continue to visit Auroville in their holidays.

Tell me about the South-North programme.

The German Government started this programme in 2013, and I started working with it in Auroville in 2016. At present, I am the only Auroville mentor on this programme and it has become my main work.

Basically, I have to select and then prepare over one year young Indians from Auroville and the neighbourhood for a one and a half year work experience in Germany, where they will work in Red Cross elderly homes or in a kindergarten. The German Government will pay 75% of the cost, and their workplace the other 25%. So far, 62 young Indians have gone to work in Germany on this programme.

The process is that people who are interested contact me and come for an interview. This year I had 42 applications and I had to make a selection because I only had 20 places. I ask questions which enable me to find out whether they have a good knowledge of English, if they already have some technical or nursing background, and if they are well motivated and open-minded.

Those who are selected receive a year of preparation in Auroville, during which time I teach them German to at least a basic level. I also introduce them to German culture through movies and help to prepare their visa papers etc.

During this year, I see how regularly and punctually they attend German classes and how good they are at writing, for they have to write a letter explaining their motivation to the German Consulate for their visa application. When they come back to India, I have a talk with them; I make a record of each person’s experience and send this back to the German Government.

How do they deal with the culture shock in Germany?

In the beginning, they all have problems with the language and need time to adjust. One of them was so overwhelmed by the variety of products in the huge German supermarkets that she couldn’t decide what to buy; another had problems travelling across town to his place of work.

In Germany they have to stay in a community flat or in a hostel with three or four other people who they have not known before, so they have to learn how to organise their lives together.

The volunteers are really needed in Germany because the healthcare system is so short-staffed. Within six months at the latest they know their work well, and after that they’re really helpful.

They also seem to cope quite well with the German discipline – I practice this with them beforehand in my German class where I insist they must be punctual – but as the pace of life is much faster in Germany and the workload can be heavy, they often say that after eight hours of work they are so tired, the first thing they do when they return to their lodgings is to take a rest.

But overall everybody has said they had a good experience.

The South-North students also have a mentor team in Germany. They have four weeks of paid holiday, but they also have to attend 25 days of seminars on various German and international topics. I also go to Germany and visit them at their workplaces and organise two days of seminars with them.

Is there a dropout rate among the volunteers in Germany?

I can remember only three or four people who went back earlier. One felt homesick, another one could not adjust to the culture and the first batch came back because of the Covid pandemic. During that time the programme stopped for nearly two years.

In the beginning, most of the volunteers came back to India after the 1½ year programme. In the last two batches, about half have continued on in Germany to begin further study or vocational training, where they divide their time between school and working for a company, for which they get paid. This is new because the new visa regulations in Germany make it easier for them to take this option. When some of these people came back for holidays, I met them. They all said that each country has its pros and cons, but at present they like to have the opportunity to be educated in Germany.

What about those who come back to India at the end of the programme? Are they changed?

Yes, everybody finds it very useful because they not only have a work experience but also a much broader cultural understanding. However, in the beginning they sometimes find it difficult here to fit back into their own culture, which is a little slower compared to Germany, because they come back with a lot of dynamism concerning what they want to do.

When I meet them, I notice they are often much more structured, better organised, and much clearer about what they want to do than before they left. So you really see they have learned something in Germany. You can see that the opportunity to make international friends, to work in another culture and to manage life without helpful family support has changed their personalities.

I noticed the same thing with the German volunteers on the North-South programme. Experiencing and working in Auroville often helped them to decide what they wanted to do with their lives. Some who already had a place promised at a German university cancelled it because they developed a different interest here.

As the sole Auroville mentor organising the South-North programme here, does it feel like a very heavy responsibility?

Not really, I really like this work with the young people. It keeps me young and it brings me a lot of joy.