These Feet Can Take Us Anywhere

We had been drawn to the idea of visiting India from the start, but it wasn’t until we found out about the Sadhana Forest project that our idea took on purpose. Generally speaking we have not designed this trip with “tourism” in mind. Every place we go we want to contribute, learn, grow, and be involved with the local community. We were impressed enough with the efforts at Sadhana Forest to commit to a three month volunteer stay to learn and participate in a major reforestation project.

A forest in the making, Sadhana Forest is located east of Auroville and 5 km north of the Union Territory of Pondicherry in Tamil Nadu, India.

The purpose of Sadhana Forest is three-fold:

1) To stop soil erosion and restore the 70 acres of indigenous Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest, working from the 0.1% which is all that remains today. This forest type is found only in South India and Sri Lanka. When the British/French colonists exploited this area they clearcut the unique forest and started the desertification process (turning vegetated land into desert). Sadhana Forest attempts to halt the topsoil erosion and reforestation by planting trees and building earthworks to control water runoff.  Since starting the project over 14,000 trees have been planted, the majority of which have survived and are showing steady growth.

Here’s a photo of an early morning over Sadhana Forest. When you look at the picture notice the amount of vegetation at ground-cover level and the number of growing trees.  Now consider the fact that when this project began this area was nothing but dry caked red earth with not a shrub in sight.  What an accomplishment!

2) To recharge the groundwater aquifer and raise the water table. When forests are destroyed rainwater has no root system through which to percolate into the ground and recharge the groundwater. Instead, water rushes along the surface carrying away topsoil and creating gullies and other channels, taking away valuable sediment and robbing the aquifer of potential drinking water.

3) To educate the local community about environmental stewardship by hosting school groups and teaching young and old by example how to live lightly on, and in harmony with, our most precious planet Earth.

On this day local elementary school children came in to help collect the leaves of the Acacia tree which we use for shading the earth around new tree plantings.  The local children are always very enthusiastic!

Meet the founders of Sadhana Forest, Yorit and Aviram Rozin.

In Sadhana Forest we pump water by hand, prepare strictly vegan meals, use solar power, live in simple thatched huts (built by community members) and swim in a huge mud pool at the end of a hot morning of hard sweaty work.

Here’s Christine and Jonty being refreshed and moisturized the natural way.

Sadhana enjoys strong community spirit and excellent and cooperative relationships with its local Tamil neighbors.  It is also an extremely International community drawing volunteers from Japan, Germany, France, Israel, America, Canada, Australia and many more. When we arrived there were 20 volunteers, now there are around 35 volunteers and we’re watching that number grow. When Sadhana Forest first started Aurovilians doubted it would attract more than 4 or 5 people at a time, but the first year they had 15 people staying there, the second year 30, the following year over 70. As of today’s date they have hosted around 900 people…more than 320 in the past year. This is very encouraging as far as reforestation goes, but such exponential growth in personnel is a source of concern for the future as the infrastructure for continued expansion has yet to be built and funds are lacking. In our time here we helped put together a dormitory-style housing structure for 30 more people but Aviram and Yorit fear it still won’t be enough for the groups that arrive in high season.

The minimum stay is 2 weeks, though most stay longer – digging, planting, compost making, watering and mulching, working on water and soil conservation projects, helping with cooking and cleaning, doing construction work, etc.

So, what have been the results to date? In addition to the planting of 14,000 trees towards the establishment of a renewed forest area to help offset global warming, the bunding and contouring of the land, and the very positive and constructive relationship developed with the local people, the most outstanding transformation has been the dramatic improvement in the local water table which – at a time when levels are falling throughout the Auroville area – has seen a 6 meter rise since Nov 2003! Whereas before, water lay in the domestic borewell at a depth of over 26ft, today it is just 6ft below ground level and rises in places to just 2ft during the rainy season. One part of this is due to how they have maximized their harvesting of rainwater while minimizing use and wastage. Overall consumption is only 50 litres per person per day for drinking, washing, laundry, cooking & cleaning (around 1/3 the amount people use in cities) and much of that water is recycled via a reedbed purification plant for further use on the land. Another transformation has been the attraction of large numbers of birds and other forms of wildlife, such as jackals, on a land which was barren of all wildlife when they began the project.
Working in Sadhana:

First wake-up is at 5:45am and our morning huddle is at 6:30am – we’re off to work in the forest for two hours (while some help with breakfast-making). Forest work includes planting new seedlings, tending to growing trees, building earth bunds to control rain flow, etc.

Breakfast at 8:30 consists usually of raggy porridge and fruit salad. Raggy is an indigenous cereal similar to wheat except dark in color and close to cardboard in taste. The porridge is sweetened with jaggery which is a natural, locally grown sweetener, and sometimes banana is thrown in for variety. The fruit salad is always delicious and fresh with local organic pineapples, papayas, bananas, chicoos and pomegranites.  We eat all our meals communally, talking together and enjoying the food and the company.

Second work starts up at 9:30 and involves various care-taking tasks and other miscellany in addition to lunch preparation. Some of the second work jobs are making compost for the trees (using pressed tree nut cakes and effective micro-organisms).  One of the radical differences between Sadhana Forest and typical organic farms is the non-use of animal waste for composting. Instead they use three alternative materials: human manure and biomass/leaves for tree planting, and kitchen waste for an organic vegetable garden and fruit orchard. This way they get several tons of composting material a year without involving cows or other animals.  Other second work jobs include emptying the compost toilets, watering baby trees, gardening, and inspecting for termite damage to the huts.

After second work, it’s time for lunch at 12:30. Lunch always consists of four parts: whole grain rice, a pot of daal (lentils), some kind of raw salad and some kind of cooked vegetables. What lacks in variety in our diet at Sadhana is made up for in freshness and wholesomeness. After having been in “cheese and wine central” of France and Spain, our systems are receiving a much needed cleansing.

After lunch clean-up the remainder of our day is ours. At Sadhana Forest we have free access to bicycles, a small library and solar-powered internet:

.  Here are the solar panels which we move three times a day to follow the sun and provides us with all of the electricity we use.

Many people also rent mopeds from a local man who will deliver it right to you for 50 ruppees per day (or $1.00). Having a moped allows you a bit more freedom of movement to explore Auroville and the surrounding villages.

Tuesday nights is “Hummus and Q&A” night where we all eat a nice hummus meal together and have the opportunity to ask Aviram questions about Sadhana, which can be especially helpful for new arrivals (and for seasoned volunteers too as they hear new questions answered).

Wednesday night is Going Out night where the kitchen gets a break and everyone eats out, usually forming into small groups and doing anything from eating at a nice restaurant in Auroville to eating at a road-side stall in the local village.

Friday night is Eco-Film Night when we show a relevant film (Bill Mollison’s series on Permaculture is what we most recently watched) and invite people from all communities to join us for the film and a nice dinner of soup, bread and tahini.

The weekends are ours (except for one meal shift on Saturday or Sunday) and we’ve spent some weekends zipping around Auroville and the beautiful surrounding areas on a moped, we’ve spent some weekends at the beach jumping in the ocean, and we’ve spent some weekends lying in our hammocks reading books.  Lately, during the cyclone, we spent most of our time in our hut being damp and watching our clothes go moldy.

Living in Sadhana:

All of the huts are thatched roofs, locally made, and made well (as we can attest to their surviving beautifully the recent cyclone).  There are a few dorm-style huts, a few private huts, a kitchen hut, a bathroom complex hut, and what is called the “main hut” where we all gather together to play music, talk, eat and show movies.

This is one of the dorm huts:

Here’s the outside entrance to our bathroom…

…and here’s the bathroom itself!

The circular platforms on the far left and far right of the picture are poo holes.  Underneath the metal lid is a large and deep concrete basin holding poo and sawdust. The basins get stirred every day.  When they’re full they’re set to rest for at least a month and then the resulting compost can be scooped out and moved to a different location for eventual use as “humanure”.  The raised platform in the middle is the pee only drain, and the metal container with the cup in the middle of it all is our washing system.  Good old-fashioned water replaces toilet paper, leaving you clean, kind of wet, and only having to remember not to pick anything up with your left hand until you’ve washed with copious amounts of soap.

Here’s the inside of our hut.  We’re extremely lucky in that we arrived early enough to secure one of the few private huts.  Most people – even couples – have to sleep in the open dorms with everyone else.  We scored with our own private hut, double bed, and space enough to hang our two hammocks inside!

Hand washing stations such as this one are located throughout the community.  The water in the large basin on the left is poured into the small bin on the far right which has a hole in the bottom.  In this way, as the water trickles out, you can wet your hands, soap up and rinse using minimal water!  (That’s our hut in the background, center right, but it blends in so you probably can’t see it)

Here’s the inside of the Kitchen Hut.  We cook on “rocket stoves” which are the cylindrical brick structures on the right side in which Amit on the floor is trying to start a fire in using an air hose.  The washing up system on the left uses ashes from the fire for scrubbing material instead of chemical soap.  The large area in the back, where the people are putting tables down, is used for food preparation.

Food preparation is a group activity, but can be a confusing and chaotic one when preparing food for 50 people.  Christine was recently given the permanent job of Kitchen Manager (Jonathan prefers “Executive Chef”) which means she heads up the daily operations, makes sure that the weekly-rotating schedule of chefs know what to do and when to do it, and orders all the fruits and veggies and grain supplies for the community.  It’s a big job but she’s excited to contribute in such an important way to the operation of the community (because after all, if people don’t eat properly how can they plant trees?!).  Jonathan has recently begun to spearhead an alternative building project that will happen in the next few weeks where we’ll be building a structure out of sandbags.  He’s researching needed materials and will help plan the project.  We’re excited and will keep you posted.

Also upcoming events are Permaculture Certification classes to be held at Sadhana Forest which we can attend for free, and an Earth Building instructional series also to be held there.  We’re thrilled to have so much education brought to us!

There are challenges to living this way but the joys, the adventure and the learning experience greatly outweighs any temporary discomfort.  We’ve both been sick, survived a cyclone and many times would have given anything for a “Western-style” toilet but we’re having an amazing time and meeting fantastic people.  We wouldn’t trade in our time at Sadhana Forest and we’re eagerly anticipating what will come in the next two months!

MAILING ADDRESS:

Jonathan and/or Christine

Sadhana Forest

Auroville 605101

Tamil Nadu

INDIA

Tags: November 2008, Sadhana Forest, What's New, Tag Index

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