Thamarai Learning Centre

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.

Selvi, a teacher at Last School, grew up in Auroville. Her studies in political science took her to Chennai, but it's her frisbee prowess as part of India's national Ultimate Frisbee team, that became her ticket to travel the world.

Savithiri was born and raised in the neighbouring village of Edaiyanchavadi. Growing up, her life entwined her two passions: the Indian classical dance form Bharat Natyam; and the Auroville village outreach project Thamarai.

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).

I am Mitali Joshi, 24, born and bred in Bombay, India, I have been volunteering with Thamarai Educational Projects as content writer, editor and facilitator in the after-school program.

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.

Through an organization called ‘Art Therapy without Borders’ and with other numerous partners in this adventure, Krupa uses art therapy as a remedial experience.

For many years, Shankar has been active in combating alcoholism in the area through his work with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) [see Auroville Today, # 306].

Nammal mudiyam - the “we can” project - is a project of the youth of Edayanchavady. As a step in transforming their village, they organized an alcohol-awareness programme on 28th February in the temple square.

Auroville, a melting pot of arts, culture, science and society, has been involved in many educational outreach initiatives since the 1980’s.

Bridget, currently the only Irish Aurovilian, has been involved in many activities. These range from town planning to village work to helping to take care of Pitanga Cultural Centre.