Annai Nagar village

Abishek, a youth from Annai Nagar village, recently spent 18 months volunteering in Germany, as part of the Weltwärtsprogramme.

Sixteen years have gone by since two young women, Bridget Horkan and Kathy Walkling, took a big step to bridge the gap between Auroville  and the neighbouring village of Edayanchavadi.

Jagadeshwari hails from Annai Nagar, a small village on the northern side of Auroville, where she works as an administrator and facilitator in Thamarai after-school (an Auroville outreach project).

Thamarai, which means 'lotus' in Tamil, is an Auroville educational and health project in the bioregion. There were challenges in 2016 when the Thamarai centre had to shut down in Edayanchavady.

Recently, exchange visits took place between Auroville and the neighbouring village of Annainagar. Ain Contractor, a volunteer with Auroville Village Action, describes the event.