Sadhana Forest Children’s Land has begun!
On Sunday, the 27th of December, about 400 kids and 200 adults from neighbouring villages as well as Auroville came to celebrate the inauguration of Sadhana Forest Children’s Land.
A traditional Indian ceremony, Puja, was led by Mr. Kuppusamy with fire, bananas, coconuts, and a traditional mark placed on the forehead.. It was beautiful to see the enthusiasm and motivation surrounding the first tree planted by the kids.
Supported by many Sadhana Forest volunteers who made this dream possible, the activities prepared for the full day began under the cooling shade of tents. It was rewarding to see the kids playfully transform into animals, trees, wind, rain, and sun. They took the magic seed and felt the power of Nature inside of them, hugged trees, felt waves, built a Mandala with natural materials, planted more trees in every group with a song for the Boomi (Earth), danced, sang, and celebrated life.
There was a little bit of rest during lunch time when we all ate a delicious and traditional South Indian meal served in a banana leaf together.
Afterwards everybody was involved with drawing their dreams and visions of the future and how they imagine Children’ s Land could be. More than 70 different ideas were brought up from the imagination of the young ones.
To finish the day a huge circle full of energy was created by OMMMMing and meditation to spread all of this positive energy to the world with the intention of Unity. Uaaauuuuhhhh!
In the end everybody was smiling and happiness was flowing in the air. Now Sadhana Forest Children’ s Land is open to all kids who want to come and participate. The idea is for them to create a magical place with their own imagination, through a slow process of choice, and developing their understanding of the land and of TDEF (Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest) ecosystem.
We will continue to visit many more villages to make sure that all kids have the opportunity to come to Sadhana Forest Children’s Land. We have already begun interacting with some local children in the mornings since this is their holiday season. The kids that live in Sadhana Forest are also very excited about the project and have helped create the first bamboo swing in Children’s Land. We are all looking forward to see all kids realize so many beautiful dreams.
