Building bridges: the Paalam Project

The Bioregion Action Group and YouthLink are both outcomes of the Auroville Retreat. Together with Auroville Village Action they are in the process of implementing a project called ‘Paalam’, meaning ‘Bridge’ in Tamil. This is a bioregional and Auroville youth leadership programme.

The objective of this project is to establish links, bridges, with youth from villages in the immediate vicinity of Auroville. It aims to provide training in sustainable village development through a programme that would include exposure to Auroville and its ideals and to model village development throughout Tamil Nadu. The idea is that, by coming together, the youth themselves will be able to identify and mould their own ‘Paalam’ initiative(s) that could be implemented over the coming years and be part of a regional development plan for Auroville and the bioregion.

Currently the project has been funded by Stichting De Zaaier and will cover about five sessions spread over about half a year. These sessions have been designed so as to provide the youth with the opportunity to build teams, explore the current development landscape, share ideas and formulate their own dreams for the future. There is also an option of including the Stewardship for New Emergence Leadership and Capacity Training workshops that are also funded by Stichting De Zaaier.

The first session took place on Sunday 29th November at the Unity Pavilion. About forty youth who had been actively working in about 18 neighbouring villages attended, in addition to ten from Youth Link. There was a brief introduction to the programme, and then the youth shared with one another their backgrounds, and their hopes and expectations of the project. The youth were also provided with a basic introduction to aspects of Auroville’s organization.

The team had their lunch at the Solar Kitchen, and there was a beautiful moment in the Matrimandir gardens when a deep sharing took place regarding each individual’s hopes for the project.

The highlight of the day was to hear, again and again, how inspired and grateful many of the participants felt for being able to come together in a joint collaboration. The day ended when, taking refuge from a heavy monsoon downpour, the group gathered under the Matrimandir for a moment of silence, holding hands together in a common aspiration, before heading home.

Future sessions are being planned on the basis of the interests expressed in this session.