Minutes of the 15th Annual Meeting of the Auroville International Association,
held in Steyerberg in the community “Lebensgarten”, Germany.
Present:
Members of AVI Centers and Liaisons:
France: Alain Grandcolas;
Germany: Wolfgang Schmidt-Reinecke, Friederike Werner, Christoph Mühlhans, Marianne Sörensen;
Netherlands: Harrie de Koning, Jannet Klingenberg, Mia Berden, Wim de Jong;
Russia: Dimitry Melgounov;
Spain: Alfonso Galiana;
Sweden: Eveline Preibsch; Staffan Kleiner;
UK: Martin Littlewood, Forrest Corkery;
USA: Julian Lines, Chandresh Patel;
Aurovilians: Ajit, Ambre, Cristo, Michael Spector, Peter Anderschitz, Ratna, Shivaya, Tine, Yashasah;
Guests: Elisabeth Wals, Ute Gieseking, Ingrid Revering, Ulli Revering, Martin Ervens, Doro Reinecke, Evelyn Sachs, Andreas Mascha, Vishwa, Dagmar Degen, Michael and Manju Bonke, Dr. Savitri Bräuker, Marion Schulz, Sugata Schulz, Alexander Konieczny, Günther Bittner, Benedikta Gräfin von Soden, Margaret Kennedy, Prof. Dr. Gerhard Kissel, Martina Singh, Margret Frey, Prof. Gebauer, Thomas Meier, Anja Krasselt, Hasi Grandcolas, Savitri and Satyavan and Shankar Galiana, Conxita and Trini Blanch, Eveline Sachs;
Note taker: Tine
The introductory note in the folder for all participants reads as follows (excerp):
NAMASKAR!
The focus of this year’s meeting will be on “International Understanding”. These days we experience remarkable steps forward on the political scene, with North and South Korea joining hands, Taiwan offering talks to China etc. Certainly we all see Mother’s and Sri Aurobindo’s force working behind the veil. And we can imagine how tremendous their efforts must be to bring peace especially to India and Pakistan. So throughout our meeting we would like to invite you to open your hearts and minds and focus on Their urge upon the Indian people to re-unite and to heal the wounds caused by the division of India.
“India is free but she has not achieved unity, only a fissured and broken freedom. … The partition of the country must go, - it is to be hoped by a slackening of tension, but a progressive understanding of the need of peace and concord, by the constant necessity of common and concerted action, even of an instrument of union for that purpose. In this way unity may come about under whatever form – the exact form may have a pragmatic but not a fundamental importance. But by whatever means, the division must and will go. For without it the destiny of India might be seriously impaired and even frustrated. But that must not be.”Sri Aurobindo
Wishing us all a time full of joy and wonderful experiences,
Auroville International Germany
June 2000
The AVI folders contained the daily agenda, reports of the AVI centers and liaisons, an update on the landfund, as well as a small gift from Auroville: golden pouches containing a book with all New Year’s messages from the Mother, mostly in her own handwriting and some with her photo, published by the Ashram for distribution as new year’s gifts. The AVI centers received additionally a folder from the landfund.
The 120-member-community of Lebensgarten who lives spread-out in many houses around a community center, provided us with friendly accommodation in their own houses. This community in the village of Steyerberg is loosely connected through its different spiritual approaches and alternative living styles. The houses and buildings, once used as labour camps and prisons in the war, are lovingly renovated, each one with a blooming garden and well cared for.
Only on the last two days the weather blessed us with some warmth and sunshine, otherwise it was arctic cold and we had to turn on the heating system. One day most participants took the opportunity to visit the EXPO at nearby Hannover. We mostly had meetings in the morning, and in the evening videos, a great dancing session conducted by Ulli Revering and Eveline Sachs, where they guided us to explore all kinds of dance and movements and we enjoyed jumping around and “letting off steam” after all these “serious” talks and discussions, then we listened to an Indian music concert, and enjoyed body awareness exercises by Michael Spector. Videos shown were: “Introduction to Auroville” – a new 20-min. video made by Joss for the Visitor’s Center, a home-made video showing latest developments at Matrimandir, the landfund, “peaceful city”, SAWCHU, Kailash, the Tibetan Pavilion, Savitri Bhavan. Architect Raman’s video was shown, where he interviews villagers around Auroville about their opinons and views regarding Auroville’s development. Another short video on canyon-work in the Utility canyon by Dutch Kireet was also shown.
We listened to presentations of the Land Use Plan by Cristo, of the International Zone by Peter Anderschitz, saw a beautiful slide show of Matrimandir presented by Michael Bonke and discussed new approaches towards a new economy with Margrid Kennedy. We had an intercultural workshop by Benedikta Gräfin von Soden. One evening the theme of this year’s meeting was explored in depth in different groups and sub-groups: International Understanding in the light of the India/Pakistan conflict and what role Auroville could play to ease these tensions. Discussions and meetings often continued until late night in the community-“Kneipe” (= German word for bar or pub.)
Auroville Presentations:
The LUC by Cristo: The
Land Use Coordination (LUC) is a committee, created by the Auroville Residents’
Assembly under the Auroville Foundation Act, whose mandate is to prepare the
Master Plan of Auroville for approval by the Auroville residents and the Governing
Board of the Auroville Foundation and to seek its notification in the official
gazette of the Government of India. The LUC’s ultimate goal is to obtain a legal
protective status for the land within the designated Auroville Township area,
consisting of city and surrounding green belt. This will prevent that land within
this 20-km² circle is used for purposes that are not in harmony with the Master
Plan.
Alarmed by large purchases of land in the greenbelt by rich Pondicherry businessmen
the LUC was created and swung into action in 1999. One of its first difficult
tasks was to prepare the Master Plan of Auroville and have it approved by the
Government of India. The approval process on the government levels is
on-going and we all hope for a positive outcome at the earliest. Cristo explained
to us the meaning of the larger bio-region around Auroville, the existing and
planned government road system and Auroville’s need to participate in its creation.
Once the Master Plan will be notified, it is hoped that it will offer to a large
extent protection from unwanted outside development and the dangers of land
going into the hands of speculators and real estate developers would be checked.
Further Cristo clarified to his attentive audience the complex legal situation
and he also emphasized that at all times great care had been taken to keep the
community informed of developments. As usual, opinions about Auroville’s development
vary greatly within the community. Therefore, the present Master Plan reflects
only a broad consensus on the plan as originally accepted by the Mother. It
does not enter into details such as the location of utilities and services,
commercial areas and social infrastructure. It also remains open on some aspects
of circulation and transportation in the city. Other challenges besides the
attack by land speculators are the population explosion in Pondicherry, the
ever increasing flow of tourists visiting Matrimandir daily, the pressure on
decreasing natural resources, in particular ground water. As a result, the community
has become conscious of the need to look at the broader picture and that Auroville’s
participation in any process of planning for the wider region is essential.
After this very interesting LUC report, Peter Anderschitz from Auroville-Berlin
treated us to an update of the latest developments in the International Zone.
Funds have come in to start the American or US-pavilion, the Russian pavilion and even
an African pavilion - Ethiopia. A design by architect Helmut shows a new arrangement
of the continents in the International Zone - they are now located like “in reality”,
means America is to the left of Europe, at the bottom is Africa, and Asia together
with Oceania sits to the right of Europe. The fifth element is defined by the
Unity Pavilion, which is envisaged to be the infrastructure in the international
zone to give space to the first activities there. There is consensus in Auroville
about the function of the Unity Pavilion and it will be located either along
the crown road (close to Savitri Bhavan) or still within the international zone,
towards the right of Bharat Nivas.
Shivaya gave a presentation on
the land fund situation; she updated the audience on the latest
purchases, talked about land policies and presented gifts and art for potential
land donors, postcards, etc. There is free video material available for interested
people to help with the task of fund raising. Interested parties please contact
landfund@auroville.org.in either Guy
or Biggie. They are always open for new and creative suggestions!
Guest speakers:
Ms. Benedikta Gräfin von Soden conducted a workshop on intercultural relationship. After some introduction she had the group split into two smaller groups in an attempt to try and define our own cultural background and then draw conclusions as to our own special “coating of cultures” and how we deal with it in our daily lives.
Ms. Margrit Kennedy, a resident
of the Steyerberg community, gave a presentation about new approaches to money
and economy, published in her book “Interest and Inflation Free Money, creating
an exchange medium that works for everybody and protects the earth” (New
Society Publishers, Philadelphia, PA 19143, USA, ISBN Paperback USA 0-86571-319-7).
The book is available in many languages, including Russian! It seems that Auroville
has an ideal number of residents to start monetary experiments, for example
to create its own currency. Margrit gave an overview over the present global
money situation and convinced us about its impossibility. Basically she said,
instead of paying interest you have to establish a small fee on money to put
money back into circulation. Money is backed up by services and work and real
goods, not by “speculation” and the proposed fee is exactly the opposite of
the “interest economy”. This would mean there is no inflation, and money can
always be changed back to its original value without losing or fluctuating.
It would be a neutral money system - nobody profits from it, which means everybody
profits from it, and this would solve all problems which money is basically
creating, socially and ecologically. Margrit said that very few people understand
the implications of our present monetary system and that’s why it still exists
in this form. It would be an immense advantage to have it changed to another
system (before it crashes). Margrit also announced her visit to Auroville next
February where she will be happy to help and assist Auroville to bring about
a change in our monetary system that will benefit all.
Discussing the theme of the meeting: International Understanding
One evening session saw the highlight of the day: Friederike from Germany read a speech by Desmond Tutu, a South African bishop which had been posted some time ago on the compats forum, and Chandresh Patel from US read out related quotations by Sri Aurobindo on nations and their relationship, in particular about India and Pakistan. The discussion centered around the question: “What can Auroville do to help ease the tensions between India and Pakistan so that ultimately the two countries can again re-join and be One” as Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have seen. We split into groups and the spiritual insights prevailing in our discussions were truly inspiring - suddenly people were communicating from an inner level, voicing their concerns, visions and proposals. We recognized that the atomic challenge has been brought into the heart of Asia to be solved there once and for all. But is it enough to concentrate within and work inside on our own beings to help outer changes to come about or should we initiate something more visible, more material? If we all work for peace inside each of us, would this effort influence the war or peace between India and Pakistan? What powers and hidden forces are lying unused in all of us and could be brought forth? Borders have fallen unexpectedly and surprisingly – look at the Berlin wall or at recent developments in Korea – Auroville the future city striving to achieve a human unity has surely a role to play in all of this – wasn’t Auroville also found to prevent the third world war? We know that a collective force is much more effective than individuals added up, so what can we do TOGETHER? Finally we settled for a common worldwide meditation on Sri Aurobindo’s birthday at a certain time, to concentrate on Mother sitting in front of the united map of India - which was a successful event, as we know now.
Game on the 12 qualities of the Mother
Ingrid and Ulli Revering offered a wonderful meditation game. This game is essentially the direct experience of the twelve qualities of the Mother. People choose one quality, which is written on colored paper corresponding to the quality and read out loud, then they sit behind the particular quality and try to feel its meaning within: Sincerity - Generosity - Perseverance - Aspiration - Receptivity - Peace - Humility -Gratitude - Courage - Equanimity - Progress - Goodness. For the twelve qualities we found representatives of twelve countries, who tried to feel how the particular quality corresponds to their country, and we meditated together on the particular quality and color.
The Matrimandir slide show presented
by Michael Bonke fit very well to the twelve qualities, which should be materially
presented in the twelve Matrimandir gardens one day. We admired some 35 beautiful
new slides of Matrimandir. The outer Matrimandir skin is now almost half finished
and covered with two sizes of golden discs; we saw the first experiments of
the inner glass skin with salmon-colored glass triangles; a new huge oven has
been built to burn the color into the glass. Research to find the right color
shade is going on right now. We heard about the progress done and the many challenges
ahead, also in regard to the lake which is supposed to serve one day as a community
water reservoir.
AVI-board report:
The board members were announced:
1 Chair: Wolfgang (AVI Germany)
2 Vice Chair: Julian (AVI USA)
3 Secretary: Martin (AVI UK)
4 Treasurer: Alain G. (AVI France)
5 International Secretary: Tine
other members:
6 Alfonso (AVI Spain)
7 Angiras (AVI UK)
8 Aurotaranti (AVI USA)
9 Eveline (AVI Sweden)
10 Friederike (AVI Germany)
11 Larry has now been replaced by Chandresh Patel (AVI USA)
12 Mia has now been replaced by Harrie (AVI NL)
13 coopted member: Dimitry (AVI Russia)
14 coopted member: Satyakam from AVI France
Mia and Mauna are AVI board members emeritus and are invited to join our meeting
whenever possible. We welcomed Dimitry who will be the first AVI-liaison
Russia, in St. Petersburg. His address:
AVI Liaison Russia
Dimitry Melgounov
196247 Russia, St. Petersburg,
Stremyannaya st., House 4, office 4-N
phone (812) 112-56-99
email: dimitry@lens.spb.ru (private)
office: agni@aditi.spb.ru
More AVI-liaisons are proposed and encouraged, but need to be confirmed:
1) AVI-liaison Kazakhstan and 2) AVI-liaison in South Africa, Johannesburg.
In the meantime we welcomed Hans Krogsether, who agreed to form a new AVI-liaison
in Oslo, Norway (after considering for a long time). Welcome Hans! His email
address is <hkrogset@mindless.com>. The board expressed the wish that
Auroville International should grow like Auroville; the formation of new centers
and liaisons is encouraged. For this purpose we plan to create some beautiful
poster, which can be hung at public places in Auroville, making people aware
of the possibility of joining the Auroville family. Especially countries of
Asian and African origin are still missing in AVI.
The conditions for an AVI-liaison are
to contribute US $20 annually to the AVI-Association and to send an annual report
to the AVI meeting. If an AVI liaison doesn’t communicate or send a report and
fails to send the contribution for two consecutive years, the liaison is considered
“out”. The annual report should give an overview of the activities of the previous
year. The contribution can be sent directly to Alain in France, or given in
cash to Tine, AVI desk, Bharat Nivas.
AVI Canada – an entirely new Canadian board has been chosen in the meantime
(on 13th of August) The new board members are: President: Claude
Daviault , Montréal, Quebec, pif@cam.org; Vice-president:
Catherine Blackburn , Toronto, Ontario,
c.blackburn@sympatico.ca; Secretary:
Andrée Paul, Montréal, Quebec; Treasurer: Guy Perron, Montréal, Quebec; Administrator:
Devan Nair, Hamilton, Ontario, miraur@nas.net;
AVI Italy: There was a proposal to merge AVI Italy legally with a Sri
Aurobindo Center in Italy, but in regard to the NGO application by AVI this
is not recommended or possible; the two organizations need legally to be separated;
NGO: As the Auroville Foundation cannot legally become a NGO, AVI hopes
to be an NGO next year, officially approved by the UN as a non-governmental
organization. Work is going on and Julian is our “best man”, keeping the contact
in New York at the UN-headquarters. Mauna, Wolfgang and Julian do follow-up
of the application work.
Budget: Our treasurer Alain G. presented the budget, which was approved.
The 5 major centers contributed each 400 USD in 99/00: Germany – Netherlands – France – USA – UK; the three biggest centers - Germany, UK and USA- promised to step up their contribution to 500 USD in 00/01.
Growing centers were Canada and Sweden,
contributing US $ 200. The budding center, Spain, contributed like an AVI liaison
but proposed an increase for next year. Of the AVI-liaisons, only Brazil has
paid its contribution.
Entry Group: a lengthy discussion took place regarding the policy of
the Entry Group. It was felt that a date should be given when Auroville will
again be open to newcomers and that this closed situation is very difficult
for people wanting to move and join Auroville. The housing situation was discussed
and how to create a collective housing fund where Auroville can start to build
collective housing which are being sold to newcomers who would then not need
to build own houses. Wolfgang shared a very interesting observation: even new
videos on Auroville show small pucca houses as the way of living in Auroville
and they therefore create the impression in new people that they also want to
live in such nice, small houses. Auroville has to look at the images it is spreading
to the outside world. A committee was formed to write a letter to the
Entry Group on behalf of the AVI-Centers, voicing their concern.
Website: 16 countries created homepages with national pages; only Israel’s
and Australia’s websites are missing. One young Frenchman named Scarabee – our
AVI-webmaster – consolidated them. It was noted that the websites seem to slowly
replace printed info material. More and more people visit the websites for information
and demand less pamphlets. Reminder: please care and always update your website
with the latest information.
Detailed reports were given about AVI USA by Julian; AVI UK by Martin; AVI Sweden
by Staffan; AVI Spain by Alfonso, AVI Germany by Wolfgang;
Next year’s meeting
It was unanimously decided to hold the next AVI meeting in Russia, St. Petersburg; Dimitry has now confirmed a meeting place near the famous palace “Peterhof”, ½ an hour boat-ride away from the city of St. Petersburg and situated directly at the sea shore. Everybody is reminded to make up their minds early and definitely about participation in the AVI meeting in St. Petersburg, as the visa procedures for foreigners to enter Russia are cumbersome and “last-minute-decisions” won’t work. Everybody is invited to join us in beautiful Russia!
REPORTS FROM THE CENTERS for the year 1999/2000
Author: AVI Canada president George Kalifa
As stated in our proceeding report, due to practical circumstances, the Association
office was transferred from Aylmer to Montreal, where we are pursuing our activities.
We have issued our bi-annual newsletter, and as in previous years, forwarded
it to our members and friends interested in the Auroville experience, as well
as the work of Sri Aurobindo and Mother. This newsletter echoes our member’s
reflections and contains extracts of articles from AV News and ”Auroville Today”,
as well as news which informs our readers about the current situation in Auroville,
as to its ideal and “raison d'être”.
Our board meetings are held based on our requirements: 4 in 1999. The Annual
General Meeting on August 15 was attended by only 12 members this year compared
to 27 (members and friends) in 1998.
The most important innovation of 1999 is undoubtedly the opening of a website
by Claude Daviault, one of our members. Consequently, AVI Canada has acquired
an additional technical tool. We also receive numerous requests for information
from across the country by e-mail, regular mail and by telephone.
Moreover, we are still forwarding donations to Auroville. The total sum for
1999 was 8170$ (Canadian dollars). As indicated, the donations were for: The
Auroville College Education Fund, the purchase of land, agriculture and afforestation.
In addition to the 5% which we retain from the donations, we collect fees from
our 16 members, which help us cover our administration and management expenses.
This year’s contribution to Auroville International is proportional to the sum
remaining in our treasury, which will again be about 150$ Can.
In other respects, in spite of a reduction in the number of board volunteers
(one resignation and one person residing out of town), we are pursuing our work
as best as we can. However, given the member’s lack of interest in getting involved
in the board, in order to take over the work of those who need a break after
so many years of responsibilities, we are sceptical about the future.
The association needs new blood. If none surfaces at the next annual election
to assume the efficient running of AVI Canada, we risk being reduced to a mere
AVI liaison. This is our present reality, but we hope to overcome it. With this
in mind, we welcomed the personal initiative of two members of the Sri Aurobindo
Centre in Toronto to start an information office about Auroville. This is a
positive sign. However, the ideal solution would be to transfer AVI Canada to
Toronto, thus giving more direct access to English Canada. The ultimate decision
will come from Mother...
As in Auroville, our
association is fluctuating from dynamism to slackening, to fatigue and even
doubt as to the effectiveness of our involvement. We badly need to be encouraged
by the true accomplishments of Auroville concerning Sri Aurobindo’s Vision and
Mother’s Dream. For Auroville must remain the faithful archetype of our common
aspirations. Yes, the goal was set very high, but didn’t Mother give us wings?
To all of you, our soul brothers and sisters, who are diligently working toward
the coming of “L’homme après l’homme”, on his way to reintegrating his divine
body, we wish you every success in this meeting of hope, the AUROVILLE INTERNATIONAL
MEETING 2000.
Sincere and heartfelt salutations!
Georges,
on behalf of the Board of Auroville International Canada
By Wolfgang Schmidt-Reinecke
Quite a good year, developments in following fields:
Guided tours to Auroville
January 2000 we organized the 5th tour to Auroville. This project turned out to be quite successful in several aspects: Nearly all participants are very content about the intense three weeks programme which gives an introduction to Auroville and an insight to the Indian cultural heritage in the Aurovillian neighborhood which is not available elsewhere. In a way it is even involuntarily an “Auroville recruiting campaign”, as after each tour some people become Aurovilian! Secondly it provides a very good income both for Auroville and for AVI Germany. There is no advertisement done for this tour, just personal references. The number of participants range from 7 till 12 people. We are sure it is a promising project for other AVI Centers too!
Website
This was not a German enterprise but an AVI project. Wolfgang of AVI Germany is chairman of AVI and he was contributing to get the site together. The real work was done by Scarabee, a young Frenchman. The existence of the site means for us (besides other aspects) that we save a lot of mailing costs by referring most interested people to the site.
Civil servants
Since Auroville is recognized as a “project serving international understanding” by the German government we have hundreds of requests of young Germans who want to do peace work in Auroville instead of military service in the German army. At the recent AVI Germany meeting we have chosen eight candidates. They now have the challenge to visit Auroville in order to find for themselves appropriate working places (with our assistance of course). If they are successful, they get one of the official civil jobs which are available through us.
Finances
Since we re-obtained our tax exemption status, we receive approx. the same amount of private donations as in the years before (during the two years of the court case because of lack of recognition our income was reduced to about 50 %). Last year we had an income of about DM 220.000,- , which is about 117.000,- USD.
This year we will start fundraising again (ministry grants) and hope to obtain in a first attempt additionally DM 150.000,- (about US $80.000,- ).
Members
Presently we have about 160 registered members, who pay between DM 100 and DM 150 per year membership fee. Moreover we have about 200 friends, who pay DM 25 yearly as mailing cost participation (for our newsletters, invitations etc). We have many more addresses of interested people, and we clearly say that we send our newsletter etc. only to contributing people.
Local meetings
Besides our national meeting (the “Auroville Days”, which are about four days with nearly 100 participants) occasionally local meetings are taking place. There were two meetings with 49 and 28 guests in Berlin and two meetings in Munich with 25 and 20 participants. There is a growing demand in Germany for these kind of “neighborhood meetings” of people interested in Auroville and in the integral yoga.
Last remark in respect to tours to AV: In 2001 we plan to help organize special tours to Auroville. For instance, one tour will be for professional architects and designers. And another one for singles with children. This tour will be organized in such a way that there will be a common caretaker for the children so that stressed mothers (or fathers) have a chance to experience Auroville...
By Alfonso Galiana
After the meeting in Hastings, AVI Spain participated in a meeting of non-governmental
associations in Navarra. In September, AVI Spain held an interview with Mr.
Sandeep Chakravorty, the Secretary of the Indian Embassy in Spain, and gave
him a portfolio with information about Auroville.
The president of AVI Spain visited Auroville in December 1999. Also in December, the subcentre of AVI Spain in Catalunya organized a meeting in order to inform about the land in Auroville. They collected arround 500$ as a donation for the purchase of land in AV.
In February, some Spanish translation’s books were sent to Auroville. In March 2000, at a meeting organized by the Sri Aurobindo Centre of Barcelona, AVI Spain showed two videos: “The earth needs” and “Body awareness”, both made in Auroville. Finally, during that month we could also write the Spanish texts for the web, as requested by AVI Germany.
In May, the video “The earth needs...” was shown in the association Friends of India, in Barcelona, on the occasion of a conference given by Georges van Vrekhem about his book “Beyond Man”, which has been translated into Spanish.
Taking the advantage that Jivatman, art teacher in the Pyramides and Aurovilian since 1985, is visiting Europe, AVI Spain has invited him to come to Spain and share his experience. There will be a dance workshop, a video shot and a talk, two radio interviews and, possibly, an article in the local press.
Fundraising
Private donations:
· 3.500.000 pesetas for Auroville (20.000$).
Government of Navarra:
· public health educational videos: 1.002.050 pesetas (6.000$).
· 3 local health centres: 2.125.000 pesetas (12.000$).
Pamplona city council:
· public health educational videos: 1.085.000 pesetas (6.000$).
· 3 local health centres: 1.308.000 pesetas (7.500$).
There are 3 projects designed in Auroville which have been presented to the local authorities in order to get more support. We still don’t know their decision. (We asked for nearly 100.000$).
That’s all folks!
ALFONSO for AVI SPAIN
by Alain Grandcolas
1. Local
The activity of our association has taken place mainly around our “local”, a shop cum exhibition hall cum office, which is open 4 days a week. There are different people each day of the week attending the office on a voluntary basis. The activities of this local are made public through a monthly announcement.
1. an average of 23 telephone calls were received asking for information on Auroville (i.e. 10% less than last year)
2. an average of 15 visitors came to see us, (i.e. 25% less than last year). The visitors have the possibility to see the photo exhibition and the video on Auroville and get all required information
3. only 5 letters were received asking for information.
During the year, we had two lectures by one of our members on Buddhism and Sri Aurobindo (with an average attendance of 15 people) and one “open day” to come together.
Every first Tuesday of the month a lecture on Auroville is held to introduce Auroville. Croquette is usually the main speaker. Attendance is on average between 4 to 6 people.
The General Assembly is being held each year in June.
The monthly sale of books, incense and some handicraft articles is approximately $300/month. Therefore, most of the running expenses of this local, amounting to approx. $1000 /month, is covered by donations from some members, and also through weekly dance courses given by Devasmita.
1.a: Our Alsace antenna has received people from time to time interested in Auroville and has helped several visitors to visit Auroville. Moreover, two students were able to go to Auroville to work for the project Harvest as internship for their studies.
1.b: Our Brittany antenna: At the end of 1999 two committed ladies have started an antenna. They readily give information on Auroville to anyone interested. They organized in November a homely meeting with some friends and gave information on Auroville. They are planning to have another meeting this year.
2. Functioning
The French Association is a legal charitable trust with 12 board members, of which 4 members form the executive body:
- Chairman: Croquette
- Vice-chairman: Dominique Darr
- General secretary: Satyakam
- Treasurer: Jean-Pierre
The organisation of the association is performed by a set of active members which each have a specific responsibility. Presently, 20 active members are listed. They are regularly meeting on the 2nd Tuesday of every month in the “local” in order to review the work to be done.
3. Donations
Donations, as well as membership contributions, are eligible for a 50% income tax deduction.
Donations to Auroville in 1999 amounted to $32.000. The breakdown is at follows: $10.000 for land purchase, $10.000 for construction of residences, $600 for the dental center, $300 for Matrimandir and another $300 for New Creation.
The main activity last year was a campaign to fundraise for the Auroville land through a mailing to more than 1000 people.
During this year, 104 persons have paid their yearly contribution of $40 (or more) to become a member of our association and support its activities, which is 20% more than last year. They received the two bulletins which were published.
Moreover, numerous parcels sent to Auroville were being sent through our “local”.
Main topics:
o Description of activities resulting from the evaluation of the survey done in the beginning of 1999
o Changes in the board AVI The Netherlands and changes in administration subscribers of Auroville Today and other relevant items
o Overview of contributions for supporting projects in Auroville and the Land Fund action.
Overview of activities resulting from the evaluation of the survey done in 1999
Ø This period has been dominated by executing activities as a result of the follow up of last year’s survey among the members of AVI The Netherlands.
Ø The result of the survey indicated a lively interest of workgroups for studying the content of Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri or coming together for meditation and reading literature from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. As a result new Savitri and meditation workgroups have started.
Ø A main topic on the “Open Day for members of AVI The Netherlands”, held 2nd October 1999, was the formation of the proposed workgroups. Furthermore Lisbeth Nüsselein, living in Auroville, gave a lecture on the spiritual aspects of life in Auroville and about her own experiences of day to day life in Auroville.
Ø In the journal “Auroville International the Netherlands” Jannet Klingenberg has started a series of interviews with people involved in the project Auroville. More people are invited to write articles. Jan Lohman remains the editor of the journal.
Ø During the latest “Open Day for members of the AVI The Netherlands”, held 27 May 2000 in Amsterdam, George van Vreckhem, author of the books in the Dutch language: “Voorbij de Mens” and “Alle leven is Yoga”, gave a lecture on the topic “The present spiritual development in the world”.
Changes in the board AVI the Netherlands and other related items
o The board has been enlarged with a new member: Nelli de Steur. Nelli is an active facilitator in a meditation workgroup and has visited Auroville several times.
o The new e-mail address for AVI The Netherlands is avinl@wolmail.nl
o The Dutch website pages www.nl.auroville-internatiol.org as a part of the website www.auroville-international.org have recently been completed.
o Target is to publish the latest news and other useful information concerning Auroville, organization and other related topics.
o The English translation of the Dutch text is in progress.
o Editor is Harrie de Koning.
Overview of contributions for supporting projects in Auroville
o Jannet Klingenberg has successfully conducted an activity to interest donors willing to support financially 10 children to study for 2-3 years. Otherwise they would not be able to study anymore due to financial reasons and would be obliged to get a job.
o One of the members, Djouke Leeghwater, was successful in fundraising to relieve the destitute situation among elder people. The organization “Wilde Ganzen” (a Dutch Religious Action Fund for development countries) and was willing to donate fl 16.000 for the project Sappadu (see details in AV Today no. 134).
o Mia Berden, the treasurer, reported that during this period donations, in total fl 71.116, could be transferred to Auroville to support the following projects:
Matrimandir fl 15.985
Land Fund fl 23.208
Village Action / Sappadu fl 21.617
Isai Ambalamschool fl 2.650
The rest was used to support other projects including fl 800 for a project in the Health Centre.
This annual report has been concluded with latest remarks on 21 June 2000.
The last couple of years our work has been very low keyed due to personal situations that have demanded our attention. Still we try to keep information going to people interested in knowing about Auroville.
In Aril this year we had a slide presentation at the Ethnografical Museum in Stockholm (in connection with an exhibition where Auroville is presented) like last year. The exhibition will continue throughout the year 2000. There were about 30 people and a few said that they would be interested to participate in the work. So hopefully we might add a few persons to our small group.
Presentations like this on Auroville always remind us of the need to get some brochures translated into Swedish. As we found the latest Auroville-brochure very good we have discussed with Jaya (in Gaia) about the possibility of her translating it for us. It would be a great help to reach out. Good means for reaching out are of course the new websites relating to each center in their own language. We thank the hard-working website-group for that initiative!
Amongst people writing for information about Auroville and the Yoga, we had a letter from Riga in Latvia (Baltic states) wanting information about the Mother and her writings.
We also try to keep up our yearly donations for Village Action work which last year has been around $1500. We have also sent, to a Holistic Center here, quite a few brochures and info about the need of land purchase which they wanted to support with a donation.
By Martin Littlewood
The work of Auroville International UK is divided into a number of areas:
Providing Information about Auroville
AVI UK provides information about Auroville and gives help and advice for those wishing to visit or to live there permanently. We provide assistance regarding guest facilities, working in the community, visas, travelling arrangements, joining the community and about the work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. We carry a range of information leaflets, brochures, and videos and can obtain detailed information on most projects and activities in Auroville. Members of AVI UK visit Auroville regularly and we try to have the latest information available.
AVI UK publishes a newsletter for its members twice a year, giving up to date information about various activities and projects in Auroville, particularly those which we are presently supporting. We also give information about activities in the UK, such as meetings and lectures. Members of AVI UK are often invited to give lectures by universities and organisations having similar interests.
Membership
AVI UK invites anyone interested in its work, and in the work of Auroville, to become a member of the organisation. There is a sliding scale of subscriptions, such that members can contribute according to their own wishes. For this membership contribution, members receive a bi-annual newsletter and an invitation to meetings.
Development Projects
AVI UK is an NGO supporting development projects in the Auroville bioregion. Projects are implemented, in partnership with Auroville, in cooperation with the residents of the many villages of the bioregion who are also the primary beneficiaries and stakeholders. Projects are supported in areas including Education, Environment, and Community Development.
Fund Raising
The organisation applies for funds from funding agencies such as the EC, National Lotteries and private trusts, for work being carried out in the Auroville bioregion. Donations are also received from individuals and organisations which are used to support a number of projects in Auroville. Being a registered charity gives us the benefit of being able to recover tax from donations made by UK taxpayers. Individuals may make donations designated for specific projects.
AVI UK has chosen to support one project on a regular basis, ensuring continuity of funding.
Providing Assistance to Auroville and Aurovilians
AVI UK helps to provide a link between members of the community of Auroville and the UK. We are in close contact with Auroville by means of letter, fax and E mail. We provide assistance with obtaining information and materials from the UK, liaising with UK companies and organisations, on behalf of Auroville, and providing expertise where this is not available from within the community.
Meetings
AVI UK holds two general meetings each year, and committee meetings approximately quarterly. General meetings are announced in the newsletter and we invite anyone interested in Auroville to attend. Often at these events we have the chance to see the latest video from Auroville, or slides taken by one of our members during a recent visit.
Auroville International UK Committee Members:
Caroline Davies - Chairman and Trustee
Dick Batstone - Trustee and Vice Chairman
Forrest Corkery - Hon Treasurer
Martin Littlewood - Hon Secretary
Shirishbhai Patel - Trustee
Pat Kaye - Trustee
David Widdicombe - Trustee
Michael Tait - Trustee (Auroville).
News from AVI UK - Development Projects
Since June 1997, AVI UK has been working steadily to increase its involvement in supporting development projects in Auroville, and to seek funds from organisations such as the European Community and the UK National Lotteries. Martin Littlewood has been working part time for the organisation writing projects in association with Auroville. We have also been assisted by our retained consultant Greta Jensen, who has helped us prepare project applications to the EC and National Lotteries. Projects are being developed in areas of Education, Environment, Tropical Forests, and Community Development.
Gateway Project
In early 1999, a private donation of company shares was made to AVI UK, which have been sold, and the proceeds held by us for the benefit of projects in Auroville. The donor has requested the proceeds from their sale to be used for Education, Community Development and Communication projects in Auroville. Projects are being proposed by a working group in Auroville called “Gateway”, and when approved by AVI UK, are developed in cooperation with our organisation. Although projects are being managed in Auroville, AVI UK monitors the projects and releases funds as required. AVI UK takes administration costs for this work. Projects in Auroville being supported by the Gateway funds include a new high school, a youth residency – “Kailash”, an extension to the Kindergarten, Internet facilities, an Auroville burial ground, and support for Auroville run village schools.
Membership
Work is continuing to increase the contributing membership of AVI UK. This is being done by encouraging members to contribute on a sliding scale to the work of our organisation. This has been largely successful, with a modest but significant increase in income coming from that source. We are also encouraging members to subscribe to “Auroville Today”. A special subscription rate for our members has been agreed with the Auroville Today team, and this has proved popular.
Pestalozzi Children's Village
Auroville, and AVI UK have been developing a special relationship with the Pestalozzi Children’s Village Trust (PCVT), based near Hastings in Sussex. Youth from New Creation School in Auroville have been staying at the Pestalozzi Village now for almost two years, preparing for their International Baccalaureate, and studying at Hastings College. It is intended that this should be a continuing cooperation, with new children coming from Auroville each year. AVI UK has put together its Youth Education project in association with PCVT, with a development education centre proposed for Auroville. AVI UK has participated at the Pestalozzi Village “Festival of Culture” for two years running, with a stand presenting Auroville and its work, and held the Auroville International General Assembly at the Village in June last year.
This project is a joint venture between three schools in Auroville under the umbrella of AVAG and SAIIER which provide education for the local village children. The schools involved in the project are Isai Ambalam, Ilaignarkal, and New Creation, and the project will support work being done throughout the age range from pre-schools up to vocational training for school leavers, and will seek to bring the schools together for cultural activities. The project has a strong research element, with the work being done in the Auroville schools being developed to take out into the government schools in the Auroville area. This project has been accepted for co-funding by the European Community, and we are presently seeking the matching funding from the UK National Lotteries.
The Restoration of the Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest (TDEF) - Coromandel Coast, South India
This is an integrated project to document and restore portions of the tropical dry evergreen forest (TDEF) of the Coromandel Coast (local to Auroville) and develop management structures to maintain them using a Shared Forest Management (SFM) approach. The project will develop Shared Forest Management (SFM) methods for the Kaluveli Bioregion and uses this methodology to reverse the degradation of the Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest (TDEF) of this region. The project is being coordinated by the Pitchandikulam Bioregional Research Centre, headed by Joss. The project has been accepted for funding by the EC, and is due to start in September 2000.
Roy Wicks, a retired police officer from the UK, is the Principal at New Creation School, and on his return visits to the UK he has inspired many people to help support the work he is doing there, by giving regular donations. Many of our members have worked in the school and have seen at first hand this work.
Over the years, substantial sums of money have been raised in the UK for the Matrimandir and many UK members choose to donate regularly to the work being done. Many of our members consider this to be the single most important project being undertaken in Auroville, being the spiritual heart of the community. A number of people from the UK have also worked on the Matrimandir during their stays in Auroville and have a close connection with the work.
AVI UK has been cooperating with Auroville in fundraising for this purpose. This is an ongoing process, and a number of significant donations have been received from private individuals in the UK. A recent appeal in our newsletter, prompted a number of donations.
By Julian Lines
This has been a remarkable year for AVI USA. We have been able to receive nearly
$800,000 for Auroville this past year.
Many of you are aware of Guy and Shivaya’s trip to the U.S. on behalf of the
Land last year. This stimulated our network and the urgency of the situation
got more people involved. But I must add that Bhavana coming the year before
also set the stage for our progress. While it is true that the stock market
in the US and the internet companies in particular have partially provided the
possibility of the donations, it is the roots in the study of Sri Aurobindo
and Mother, especially in education, that have yielded the most fruits and set
the stage for our wonderful year. Graduates from the SAICE and Mother’s International
School in Delhi are among those who made the greatest contributions along with
Aurovilians who stepped forward for the land.
We have also explored corporate matching as a powerful aid, as many companies
will double match donations to nonprofit organizations.
We have an excellent Board, headed by Bill Leon, who is at the University of
Washington in Seattle. Though we miss Larry Tepper’s presence, Bill is a good
facilitator and in spite of a heavy workload, gets a great deal accomplished.
June Maher is still the heart of our group. Having started Auroville Association
in the early ‘70s, she is currently serving as Treasurer in addition to her
membership on the Foundation for World Education Board. She often goes to the
AVI office, housed in Talisman, the rug cleaning and restoring business run
by Constance and Iris. Constance is Vice President of our Board, always with
the “big/deep picture”, and keeps the organization grounded.
Ed Giordano continues to be
our main ecological expert and participated in a presentation on Auroville in
Seattle. He and Mindy are living in San Francisco and are there when needed.
Megan Thomas is in Washington, D. C. most of the time, and has a new job working
on evaluating the spread of AIDS in Africa for US AID.
Chandresh Patel, though relatively new to the Board, has given a big boost in
terms of vision and funding. He has rekindled work on the U. S. Pavilion with
useful input from architect, Daniel Smith and Americans in Auroville. We have
been very fortunate to have Jill Navarre as an active and dynamic link in this
work and have seen wonderful progress in the past few months. Chandresh has
also moved our web presence forward to compliment the excellent work done by
Wolfgang and AVI Germany with Scarabee. While we are very pleased with the international
site, we also need to set up credit card donations and sales and needed to have
development going on in the States as well. We hope to have useful links to
cross reference all our sites amongst each other and with Auroville.
We are delighted that Mauna has taken up the website work in Auroville and have
every confidence that with timely technical help, the Auroville site will be
an excellent reference for those interested in our work in India and abroad
and direct people to our local sites and contacts.
Taranti has been working in the office part time and we are now looking for
a replacement. As she shifts from keeping the office together to her academic
achievements, her partner, Nilauro Marcus, has stepped in to join the Board.
We are trying to encourage participation from Auroville youth (and anyone under
40 for that matter) to widen our base and keep a dynamism in our group. Having
excellent skills in computer is a wonderful asset Nilauro brings to the Board,
but like our other new member, Renu Neogy, it is their deep connection with
Auroville that makes their involvement so useful.
In 2001, Suzanne MacDonald will join the Board. Many of you know her from Merriam
Hill in the U.S. and in Auroville. It will bolster me on the East Coast to have
her participation. Suzanne, like Megan, has excellent facilitation and management
skills. In fact, that runs throughout our Board, and has allowed us to respond
to the Land crisis and Matrimandir fund raising with good results.
It is a great privilege to collaborate with so many wonderful people in the
US and Europe and India. While I’m not sure what we’ll be able to accomplish
at the U.N. Department of Public Information, there are certainly more and more
opportunities to speak about the Auroville experience. Guy was able to give
a speech there last fall which was well received.
We are just about to convene our All USA Meeting. Alan, Annemarie, Jill,
Big Jocelyn and Georges will all participate and will continue to do so while
they are touring the U.S. Georges especially has brought insight on the yoga
to Germany and Spain. His and Savitra’s books can only widen the circle of people
interested in our work. We are fortunate to have such resources amongst us and
can continue to reach people with the news of our progress and dreams.
I think the web pages continue to be important vehicles for education and outreach,
but I would hope in the coming year to be more of a presence in the network
of intentional communities and in colleges.
Most recently we had a fund raising event of an auction and dinner organized
by Peter Lapore and Anie Nunnally, with some help from June Maher. Thanks to
Biggie, Auroville units donated goods and over $5,000 was raised for the land.
Not only was this a wonderful collaboration of the Sri Aurobindo Center of Los
Angeles and Auroville and AVIUSA, but a network has been set up to work on another
event next year and find other sources of funding.
We are also looking to approach foundations with the help of Diane Kiser, but
are first going through some financial housekeeping. AVI Deutschland is likely
miles ahead on this front from their experience with Government and EU funding,
but we are just starting to pay more attention to this. June is working with
an accountant to reorganize our bookkeeping system.
Next year’s All USA Meeting will be in San Francisco and coincide with the 50th
anniversary of the Cultural Integration Fellowship. We hope that will be an
opportunity for the academic and Non Resident Indian communities to become more
aware of Auroville’s achievements.
On the East Coast, and in Woodstock in particular, we work closely with Matagiri.
I also serve as a Trustee there. We want very much to have a better infrastructure
and be able to host people and events. Our shop, Pondicherry, continues to import
handicrafts from Auroville and Woodstock thrives as a mecca for those in search
of the ‘60’s. Woodstock is also the seat of His Holiness the Karmapa, and we
look forward to a visit from him before too long. It will certainly add to our
“mystical mystique” as we have his monastery in addition to the Zen Center down
the road from Matagiri.
I am very proud of Auroville’s work and hope to be there this winter and look
forward to seeing some of you there as well.
Julian Lines
Trustee
I have been interstate and just returned so I think the opportunity has gone to make a report. I have continued to act as the contact person for Auroville. I have a fair amount of information here in the form of books and videos so I lend them to people planning a visit there. My weekly market stall gives me an opportunity to disseminate knowledge of Auroville and I offer subscriptions to AV Today to people who show a livelier interest. This year I visited California and met with the expatriot Aurovilians there at Renu’s in Oakland and was so happy to reconnect with Ed and Mindy, Savitra and his family, even Chris Gray and I later stayed with June and Minou. This was a great experience! I even spoke with June about the possibility of having an AVI meeting here in Australia in the next few years for I am the custodian of a beautiful property in a bushland setting which is one of the last bastions of various creatures, kangaroos, wallabies, powerful owls, echidnas and a glorious variety of birdlife and we thought this would be a good venue but some development of the infrastructure would be necessary. However the fares and travel time may dissuade a proportion of the participants. Johnny is here at present so we have a vibrant representative who really enjoys to relate Auroville anecdotes and encourages lively debate among friends and extended family.
In Sydney there is a fervour in the air as the Olympic preparations reach a
climax. I will be in Auroville at Christmas with the family - following
my little grand daughter Piper...I am longing to cycle with her in my basket
through the forests and tell her the stories of our pioneering days there and
look forward to seeing you too....
love Jan
Activities of liaison in Brazil centered on answering queries from interested people via e-mail. This was done from the internet service at the university where I work (starting 2000, I have computer facilities at home, which will make it more convenient). The aim was to keep an attentive presence, being open and welcoming people. Whenever an opportunity presented itself, information on Auroville and on how to get more of them was offered. Following from a speech on our experiences as a family for two years in the community, which I gave at a meeting where recent materials on Auroville were on display, some visual information on Auroville and Matrimandir was presented by Lenora, Auroville sympathizer, in a state TV interview in a talk show. Brazil is a very large country, with a young population very open to all things Indian. To the extent Auroville can be seen as a truly international endeavor but also as deriving its strength from Mother India, I think more Brazilians will answer to Auroville’s appeal.
June 4 we will be presenting a performance based on “A boy and a tree” by Marti and Forrest on a open stage in a big city park. This is backed up by our Mayor House, in the program UFMG Jovem (the university for the youth). The whole day will be dedicated to care of the environment, which is a very popular topic and will attract lots of people. I got the green light yesterday to go ahead with this project (of the performance). Students of Performing Arts, Architecture and Music are involved. I, as the coordinator (a teacher has to be in charge), will speak at the beginning, which gives me an opportunity to talk briefly about Auroville. I am also planning a small exhibition near the stage, so that people may be directed to the panels for more information. The program is printed in considerable numbers (crowds may go to the park on Sundays) and I will see that it says that Marti and Forrest are from Auroville, an international city (or a community?) in Tamil Nadu, South India. Any of the authors is at Auroville at present? I’d like to talk to one of them about the adaptation for the stage we are doing. We are doing fine.
Love from us, Carlos
Anna and Yuval from Eternity are from Israel and they are the Israeli-contact people in Auroville. Dorith had phoned them to tell that her computer has gone beserk and that she has to get a new one and that’s why she can’t communicate with Auroville.
Everything is very well with her and two kiddos and work, and she keeps giving info on Auroville whenever approached.