YouthLink

YouthLink is moving its office space from Virundhu Canteen (Town Hall) to the Kailash building. As they put it, “the move comes as part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen youth engagement and collaboration in Auroville”.

Youth Centre and YouthLink’s annual end-of-year fair took place on 21 December, attracting a sizeable and enthusiastic crowd. The organisers of Fair and Square (as the event was called) focused their efforts on showcasing the Youth Centre space as a vibrant social centre – or town square – prominently located on the Crown road.

Between September 21st – 29th, Auroville hosted the 8th edition of Earth Shastra, a 9-day immersive journey in the lap of nature, that brought together 30 young changemakers from across India.

YouthLink informed the community that it would like to create a Vocational Training Centre to provide for a safe environment where Auroville youth and youth coming to Auroville can explore and develop various skills, and contribute to positive change without the need to leave the community.

In early 2023, YouthLink conducted an initial survey on the working situation of Aurovilian youth aged 18-30. 116 youth (24% of the total 492 Aurovilians in this age bracket) chose to participate.

This year’s AUM (Auroville Underground Music) Festival, organised by Youth Center, YouthLink and Svaram on March 16 and 17, featured two days of live music and performances by artists from in and around Auroville.

Youthlink, which is a diverse group of youth from Auroville who work towards creating a positive impact in Auroville, invited all residents to a ‘Blind Babble Event’ on 14th Sept.

A new Auroville Youth Integration programme has been developed by the YouthLink team for ‘Children of Aurovilians’ between the ages of 16 and 25.

AVYI was an amazing experience. I learnt so much more than I expected. All the organisers and participants were amazing, and I had so much fun.

Recently, Jay Naidoo, an ex-freedom fighter from South Africa, visited Auroville and addressed an important question to the youth: “You say you are open to everyone and invite people from all over the world, but have you actually created an environment where African people can integrate into the community?”

Gwjwn Daimari first heard about Auroville while he was working on his B.Sc. in Physics at Pondicherry University. He returned to his native Assam after completing his degree but came back in 2022 to explore Auroville.

Over the past seven years, Lucrezia Fassi has been involved in various youth initiatives and projects including the Youth Center, Aura App, and Disha.

Bonjour! My name is Nivetha Narayanaswamy, and this is the story of how I came to master French. Growing up in Auroville, I never could have guessed the journey I would be taking when my father expressed his desire for one of his daughters to speak French.

Last October, YouthLink conducted a sexual harassment awareness campaign and recently followed up on that initiative by bringing together all the services within Auroville working on matters related to sexual harassment to create Safety & Boundaries Awareness (SBA).

For a few years, YouthLink have organized events to bring the community together. Last month they hosted a vegan potluck and a Blind Babble game session to help people connect.

Nahar Emet, now 22, was nine years old when he came to Auroville with his family. He attended Deepanam, TLC, and Last School, and then worked as CRIPA’s light and sound designer before joining the Youth Centre team.

International Youth Day is celebrated annually on the 12th August globally, and marks YouthLink’s largest annual event in Auroville. This year it was celebrated around the world, focusing on the theme of “Intergenerational Solidarity'', which it remains ever so important to be reminded of, even within the Auroville context.

On April 15 and 16 Youthlink surveyed the community about road safety. There was a polling board, letterbox for further suggestions and information was given out.

May 2021: empty streets, sweltering heat, very few masked people on the road… Sounds like a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie, right? Drone’s eye view of the roundabout, the glint of a huge inverted disco ball in the sun.

Is Auroville prepared for an uncertain future? In 1968, Auroville was a desertified plateau. Since then, the landscape has been greened by millions of trees and fauna and flora have exploded.

The human library concept brings together people who might not normally meet to hear each other’s stories to challenge stereotypes and prejudices through dialogue.

YouthLink has launched a Part-Time Parent Initiative based upon the experience of two Newcomers who have developed a Part-Time Parenting process in their lives.

I was brought up in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram School and I am currently working for YouthLink and living in Maison des Jeunes. In my quest for meaning, I have found my place in Auroville.

The Journey of Auroville is a project under the special grants from the Government of India for Auroville’s 50th anniversary. Officially started with the Auroville Expo in Delhi, which took place in November 2017 and comprised an exhibition and two conferences at the Indira Gandhi Centre for the Arts and the UNESCO Office, this 50th anniversary commemorative project has evolved into a festival format to reflect the many facets of Auroville’s vision and realities over the past fifty years.

The manifestation of the Hive, which was sanctified with a Bhoomi Puja on February 26th, has been suspended.

From 4th December - 7th January, an Ecovillage Design Education (EDE) course was held in Auroville for the first time. The Aurovilian organizers invited participants not only from Auroville but also from the bioregion, India and the world.

Higher education and learning opportunities have been on the minds of many groups such as the Centre for International Research on Human Unity (CIRHU), Auroville Campus Initiative (ACI), Auroville Consulting, and Youth Link, all of which have focused on linking learners with a myriad of existing resources within the community.

Aurevan, Suryamayi and Kavitha are part of an enthusiastic team working on developing apprenticeship and internship programmes for Auroville youth.

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.

The heavy rains took many areas in South India by surprise. Chennai and Cuddalore were flooded and many small villages in our bioregion were also severely affected, some almost washed away.

On December 12th 2015, about 20 youth gathered in the Town Hall in answer to an invitation that said, “Ever wondered what’s happening in the Town Hall?

YouthLink is a new youth group that aims to engage the youth in Auroville and the surrounding area and to work towards providing Auroville youth with, among other things, better opportunities in housing, higher education and employment.

International Youth Day was celebrated for the first time in Auroville on August 12th. Originally, the United Nations designated this day to draw attention to youth issues worldwide.

Kavitha was one of four Aurovilians who recently attended the Global Eco-village Networks’ (GEN) 20+ Summit, held in Findhorn, Scotland. There she represented Auroville as well as Youth Link.