It's my last night in America for a month - in just a few hours I will be on my way to Pondicherry, India! Myself and 11 other students from the University of Oregon will be volunteering at different community field sites as part of an Alternative Winter Break. For those of you who don't know, and are wondering, Pondicherry is a union territory surrounded by the state of Tamil Nadu and has a lot of French heritage.
While staying in Pondicherry, we're going to be staying at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram- I'm pretty excited about it! People from all over the world come to stay at the ashram to live a spiritual life. In order to live at the ashram each person much contribute to the functioning of the place, not mary, abstain from substance abuse, and give their material assets to the society - in return, the society provides everything one would need to be happy and healthy. I think it'll be refreshing and humbling to live in such a simplistic way.
Our different field sites include: Sharanam, SARVAM, the Organic Garden of Matrikunj, Chidambaram Temple, Sri Aurobindo International Institute for Integral Health and Research, India Council for Integral Education, Auroville, and the Mamallapuram Temple Monument. As of right now, I don't know many details about these sites, but I will be posting many more blogs about my experiences at them, and sharing what I'm learning with all of you! I'm hoping to mainly be working with the India Council for Integral Education, and possibly the Sri Aurobindo International Institute for Integral Health and Research.
To my friends and family, I love you all so much and will miss you this next month! Thank you all for your love and support - I'm so very grateful for this opportunity and hope to make the most of it!
Keep checking in for updates on this amazing adventure I'm about to embark upon, and feel free to leave me comments and ask questions!
Lots of love,
Steph
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