Gramya Manthan in the nurturing ecosystem of Ahmedabad

 

What makes any experience wholesome and fulfilling? Is it the place or the people? 

The answer lies beyond the binary line of the question. After several years of experiencing some of the most surreal places in the company of the right people, the answer is both the people and the place, and a lot many things on the spectrum make any experience worthwhile.

This, however, is to share the significance of physical spaces in bringing meaningful experiences.

For the past 10 years, Youth Alliance has been conducting its flagship rural immersion cum leadership program with young people 18-35 years of age coming from all across India.

As a program rooted in experiential learning that enables young people to delve deeper into the aspects of Self, System, and Community by exposing them to multiple different realities, the physical spaces where we hold the program become an integral part of the process.


The journey of the program is rooted in wholeness by deeply engaging the faculties of head, heart, and hand which get beautifully nurtured in spaces like Safai Vidyalaya and Environmental Sanitation Institute are truly an embodiment of such values.

The well-thought design of Safai Vidyalaya and ESI 

provide just the right outer environment that is needed 

to nurture our complex inner world. 

One would find several corners here that offer space for solitude, to quieten the mind from all the hustle and bustle of modern life, and yet one is never alone here; for you can not just relish in the beauty that nature has to offer but also find meaningful messages of various luminaries at every few steps you take.

Bowing in deep gratitude

Here is how the very spirit of Safai Vidyalaya and ESI help deepen the experience in a holistic way, by:

• Enabling understanding of the self through reflection leads to transformation from the inside out.

• Exposing one to the importance of systemic thinking and interconnectedness if one observes the design and architecture of the spaces that are rooted in Gandhian values of sustainable development while putting light on systemic issues of Sanitation and Untouchability.

• Providing a space rooted in “Maitri’ that is embodied by each staff member, volunteer, and even the birds and animals that find their home here.

• Holding young minds who are journeying into alternative, and uncharted territories.

These spaces are both, a centre of - rest and rigour.

The truth that we experienced being part of these spaces is - that these centres of learning aren't made out of thin air - they require constant tilling of soil for years to no end. No one person is at the helm to keep it all together but everyone who joins commits to hold a part of it - to give a part of themselves, to receive a part of everyone who ever held the space, ever committed to it.