The Tamil name ‘Isai Ragam’ means ‘Melody of Music’, and our organisation is geared towards educational development in the villages in Auroville’s bioregion.
Long-term Aurovilians Ivar Jenten and Brigitte Vink, both originally from The Netherlands, have been working with village children for decennia and founded Isai Ragam under Auroville’s Auromitra Trust in June 2021.
The specific beneficiaries are very poor children from villages and Dalit settlements around Auroville.
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Auroville International USA will double your gift, amplifying the impact of your love for Auroville and the innovative projects that have been incubated there!
Problem statement
In the villages around Auroville, due to extensive alcohol abuse by the male population -triggered by financial, family, marriage, religion or other social problems- many families still live on subsistence level.
Ill-fated circumstances may cause trauma, disharmony and broken-up households. Because of this, children may early in life loose a parent, are traumatized, and don’t get the attention they need.
Executives
Project holders / executives of the project are long-term residents of Auroville Ivar Jenten (11-7-1947) and Brigitte Vink (28-12-1979).
Aims & Objectives of Project
- General skill development for under-privileged children in the villages around Auroville
- Providing a basic foundation for future employment opportunities
- Preparing young minds towards future schooling and higher studies
- Introducing village children to certain arts which they normally may not get to know
- In general:
To contribute towards strengthening relationships with the local people in Auroville’s bioregion.
Our Story
As far back as 1975, young Dutch Ivar Jenten went to India to take part in the ‘Auroville’ project, a universal city-in-the-make where occidental and oriental thought & way of living could be combined together. Auroville is located in Tamil Nadu, southern India, a few kilometres inland from the Coromandel Coast and some 10 km north of Pondicherry Town. The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity in diversity.
Ivar came to Auroville because of Sri Aurobindo – Ivar stayed because of the Tamils and Sri Aurobindo. "While nobody is perfect”, he says;
“Tamil people have by nature something in their psyche that I have hardly been able to glimpse in myself…., so what I cannot glean from reading and meditation, I hope to learn by being and living with them.”
Thank you!