Sadhana Forest is a volunteer-based community.
People of all ages and abilities are welcome to come and volunteer!!!
Our experience with volunteers, from all over the world, has been very positive. They have created here a vibrant community atmosphere. Living and working together and sharing our experiences brings us into harmony with nature and ourselves. One of our volunteers put it very nicely in her letter to us when she left: “May there be many forests to grow people”.
We are happy to welcome volunteers here any time of the year and always have plenty of space for them!!! We are fully committed to accept everyone that wishes to volunteer here and help recreate the forest. You do not need to let us know the date of your arrival unless you wish to do so. Volunteers are welcome to arrive here on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday before noon (12:00). We welcome volunteers on these particular days to give everyone arriving here all the information and attention they need.
Those arriving after we start the volunteer welcoming and those arriving on Thursday or on the weekend will have to look for accommodation elsewhere and return here in appropriate timing!!!
If you cannot arrive here before the welcoming, please find yourself accommodation. You can use this link to get more info about local accommodation: http://www.aurovilleguesthouses.org/
We appreciate creativity and initiative and welcome any ideas you may have to improve our project and our community.
The minimum stay is 4 weeks from December 1st to April 1st, though many volunteers stay for a few months or more. For volunteers arriving from April 2nd to November 31st the minimum stay is 2 weeks. We are also very interested in longer term volunteers/interns staying with us for a period of three months or longer.
Our Aim
Our main project is the reforestation of 70 acres of severely eroded land. We are working to re-create the Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest indigenous to our area. This forest type is found only in Southern India and Sri Lanka and provides a rare biological richness due to its very high species abundance (over 1000 species of trees, shrubbery and liana). The Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest is now close to total extinction as only 0.01% survives. This is a last moment effort to keep this very rich and beautiful Forest on earth. As part of our reforestation effort we are also working on water conservation and soil management.
For more information about our work please go to:www.sadhanaforest.org (For information about our new Sadhana Forest project in Haiti please go to:www.sadhanaforesthaiti.org)
Our Way of Life
We practice an eco-friendly way of life including veganism, alternative construction, solar energy, biodegradable toiletries, and compost toilets.
Accommodation for volunteers is in exchange for a 25 hour work week with additional community shifts which consists of cooking meals and cleaning after meals. Volunteers mainly plant, mulch, and water trees during the season, work on water conservation in the forest and around the community, work in our little vegan-organic vegetable garden, maintain the community area, and spend time with the community kids.
Free facilities for volunteers include a small swimming pool, free 24/7 unlimited access to the Internet with your own laptop, five hours each day (excluding Fridays) of AC power to charge electrical items (sun permitting), a small collection of books, the use of several bicycles, and a playground for children. There are also daily workshops offered that are run by our volunteers and vary each week.
Auroville
Sadhana Forest is part of the international community of Auroville, 6km north of Pondicherry, in Tamil Nadu, South East India.
Auroville offers a wealth of courses, classes, workshops and treatments in many areas of interest, including yoga, meditation, tai-chi, shiatsu, watsu (water shiatsu), free dance and many other kinds of alternative healing therapies. For more information on Auroville please visit http://www.auroville.org
We look forward to welcoming you to Sadhana Forest soon!
