Sadhana Forest India
ReportLocation: Auroville, India
Sadhana Forest is a reforestation and water conservation project in the international township of Auroville, South India. Founded in 2003, we are reforesting 70 acres of severely eroded land to bring back the indigenous Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest. Volunteers come and live on our sustainable, off-the-grid, solar-powered, low waste, vegan campus. We provide them with food and accommodation and they take part in the community life. Volunteers take part in the water conservation and reforestation work and plant, mulch, and water trees during the season. They also perform maintenance tasks around the community. During their time off they can take part in various community activities or visit the local area.We also welcome many visitors that come to see our project, host groups of local children in a natural learning space, take care of rescued cows in our vegan animal sanctuary, host a gift economy vegan Tea Hut and self-directed learning courses in our UniverCity of Compassion.
We engage in seva (selfless service) for 30-35 hours a week. Our seva primarily consists of reforestation and water conservation, as well as general tasks that sustain the project as a whole. The reforestation seva consists of preparing mounds for tree planting, planting trees, watering and mulching young trees and caring for trees in our tree nursery. The general community seva includes tasks such as preparing meals in the kitchen, cleaning up after meals, composting food waste, managing the tool shed, organizing and repairing tools, gathering and processing firewood, inspecting huts for bee and termite damage, maintaining solar panels, maintaining dry compost toilets, and sorting community waste for processing in nearby recycling centers.
We welcome and accept everyone who wishes to get involved with us, any time of year, and we always have plenty of space available and plenty of work to do! You do not need to have a background in forestry or water conservation in order to participate in our seva.
All guests are asked not to smoke cigarettes, use drugs, or drink alcohol, inside or outside of Sadhana Forest, during their entire stay! Please only come to Sadhana Forest if you are 100% sure that you are able and willing to completely respect this request. Volunteers who do not respect this policy will have to immediately leave Sadhana Forest for a period of at least 6 months.
