Carried by Wonder: Maggie’s Auroville Adventure
We checked in with Maggie Greer, a longtime Auroville board member, who returned from her semi-annual trip to Auroville during February–March 2025. Maggie was instrumental in our 2025 Site Visits for Auroville Project Partners. You can find all our partners under Our Work on the menu, or at aviusa.org/partners.
When we first asked Maggie about her trip, her first words were:“It was wonderful!!” “I learned so much I didn’t know about Auroville!” Her first words were not: ” Too hot, NO AC” or “oh those insects or other outdoor friends making their way into indoor co-living spaces.” Her first words were: “It was wonderful.” Maggie first arrived in Auroville in the 1970’s, each trip is still filled with wonder and discovery.
The glow in her words resonated throughout our conversation. The trip was wonderful, as life can be, filled with its twisting, challenging intricacies. Staying connected to the wonder is what we are here for.
A trip from Toledo, Ohio, Maggie’s hometown, to Auroville sounds adventurous, and it is. With a minimum of 36 hours of travel door-to-door, the trip can be arduous. Finally, after close to 36 hours, one arrives at Chennai International Airport.This year, her journey was on the longer side, 45 hours due to layovers. She left Toledo the morning of January 25th and arrived in Auroville the afternoon of January 27th, 2025, losing 10 1/2 hours due to time zone changes.
During her time in Auroville, Maggie has frequently stayed at Gaia’s Garden, This year, she also stayed in Certitude Community. Reconnecting with old friends from the early days of Auroville is one of the most precious parts of her returning trips. Despite the heat, the dirt roads, and logistical challenges, Maggie began her six weeks of meetings, site visits, and soul connections with joy.
As an AVI USA board member and representative to the Auroville International (AVI) board, part of Maggie’s work involves attending meetings and learning about the activities of other AVI centers around the world. After three full days of intense meetings within two weeks of more general work, Maggie turned her attention to AVI USA responsibilities. This included a number of site visits—some done by herself, and others alongside Matthew and Binah of AVI USA and Madhavi from the Sri Aurobindo Center in Boston.
Over the past few years, AVI USA has been building strong relationships with partner projects. Our knowledge base and resources have grown significantly, and the site visits allow us to maintain and deepen those ties. They offer a chance to meet partners face-to-face, visit their projects, and experience a glimpse of their daily reality. They also help AVI USA ensure compliance with all USA nonprofit tax laws.
In 2022, we held our first official site visits, equipped with notepads and simple forms, blending casual conversation with the collection of facts, numbers, and stories. Many projects operate purely on inspiration, and this emerging system of documentation has become a mutual learning experience. Preparing a snapshot of their recent progress and upcoming goals has fostered a steep learning curve, especially around defining and reaching objectives. Auroville is, by definition, a dream. But perhaps these small, grounded steps are helping that dream take root in meaningful ways.
Maggie’s visits began by shadowing Matthew and Binah to observe and learn, visiting MorningStar Birth Center, Horse 2 Human, and Savitri Bhavan. After the first week, she continued on her own, connecting, sharing, and co-dreaming with our partners.
She remarked on how much she learned during the site visits, meeting people, hearing their stories, and witnessing the evolution of their work. Some of the projects she visited included: WasteLess, Aurokiya, Udavi, Thamarai, Mohanam, Isai Ragam, WellPaper, Language Lab, Sanskrit Research Institute, EcoFemme, Malarchi, Last School, and Lilaloka, Kuilai Creative Center.
Maggie, what were some of the highlights of your site visits?
“Udavi School was a favorite moment this year. I visited once with Binah to watch the whole school performance on the athletic ground that involved marching, yoga demonstrations, gymnastics, etc., the athletic portion of the school curriculum, and was invited back for a another visit. I went twice more, once to do a site visit in which I toured the whole school (it’s huge!) and talked at length to two of the main administrators, and the second time to watch another performance, this time the middle school’s end of the year sharing fair.
During that fair I was so impressed with how the children were able to share what they learned. Skits and songs, primarily.
But what impressed me the most was how they were able to share such dry language, science, math, and social sciences subjects as conjugation of verbs, use of pronouns, planets, multiplication tables all through performance skits that involved at least six to seven students each.
I have some pictures but they really don’t show the quality of integral education that was on display. As a retired educator, I wish all schools everywhere would have this type of education and sharing.
“WasteLess is always so interesting to visit. They’re constantly developing new educational tools—you always leave with samples to share with educators in the U.S. They’re researching, testing, and innovating ways to teach school kids about plastic pollution, and they make it creative and fun. I’d love to connect them with local schools—Ohio STEM schools might be a good fit and I have someone in mind who can help here.”
“Aurokiya Eye Care is also expanding their reach, offering eye yoga and conducting screening camps in schools and workplaces. It’s a lot of work, but a great service.”
“Thamarai Center was another surprise. They’ve always done incredible after-school programming, but this year they had 6 donated VR headsets the kids were exploring. They’ve had 3D printers for years—something not even many U.S. schools have. The kids were having a blast. The boys and girls I saw were deeply into their projects and the “teachers” seemed to also be deeply into sharing with their students, mostly one on one or one with a small group. The facility is not large and is in the middle of a village. The children coming there are village children. Thamarai gives them homework support, a small meal, and expanded learning opportunities they would not get without Thamarai”
“Another fascinating stop was the Sanskrit Research Institute. Martin, the founder, runs it out of a tiny converted apartment—complete with a kitchen, a tiny garden, and a room full of musical instruments, including a drum kit! Their work is inspiring—collaborating globally, cataloging ancient texts, and exploring the links between Sanskrit and other ancient languages. The people working there are incredibly smart and yet down to earth Aurovilians.”
I went to Isai Ragam on a Sunday afternoon to witness a program arranged just for me. There were perhaps 20 children, around 12, or so, both boys and girls. They performed quite a few musical selections to illustrate the range of instruments they are learning: harmonium, drums, violins, piano. Then, the young girls performed several dances in both a contemporary and classical Indian style. What I saw was a lot of talent in the room and dedicated teachers and parents to support them. Again, this is an illustration of an afterschool program for village children.”
I have to say, this was one of the most rewarding visits to Auroville I have ever had! Living there in the early 70s grounded me and set me on this path. I’ve been back for extended stays multiple times and each time Auroville has matured even more. The current Auroville is a maturation of what we all hoped for in the early days and Aurovilinas have worked toward ever since. And, the work that AVI USA is doing is so very important to that growth. All the sites I visited expressed extreme gratitude for the support and guidance they receive. So yes, my visit was wonderful! I couldn’t ask for more.