We continue to receive interesting bulletins by email from Bhavana, our contact at Auroville, in Tamil Nadu, of the ongoing work of the Village Action Trust. The Village Action Group was founded in 1983, and subsequently established Trust status in 2000, giving a legal identity to the diverse activities hitherto organised more informally. Currently the Trust is comprised of several units, each carrying out its own programmes:
The Village Action Group
Auroville Coastal Development Centre (ex-Tsunami Relief)
Life Education Centre
Lively Boutique and Training Centre
Monhanam (cultural/arts centre)
Svaram (musical creativity, training and research)
Auroville Industrial School
Auroville Health Services
Deepam (a project for disabled village children)
Thamarai (a learning and cultural heritage centre)
The coordinators, executives and trustees meet monthly to keep each other abreast of their activities, and facilitate collaboration.
To read more about the good work and further developments do look at the Auroville website:
www.auroville.org/environment/avag/AVAT.htm
which is user-friendly and attractively put together.
We have received recently a report on Svaram - an innovative venture making musical instruments thus offering vocational training and making more accessible the joy of music to rural young people:
And also an update on the evolution of the Life Education Centre – a grassroots project we have been in touch with since its early days (l990s) which provides exceptional vocational and social training and support to young women who would otherwise have missed out on further education.
BOWL is currently supporting the innovative project “Livelihood Skills and Opportunities for Youth in Coastal Tamil Nadu” which we feel will expand employment possibilities in the area (see article in previous newsletter).
For further information on this work contact:
Ann Layton Email: chandraganga@googlemail.com Telephone: 020 8563 9795
BOWL is contributing £660 to the Livelihood Skills and Opportunities project this year.