Shanti Van

Shanti Van means ‘Forest of Peace’ in Maharati and is a 13 acres site adjacent to Vadad Hasol village, Rajapur Taluka. Shanti Van accommodates Interlock HQ and the guest house Shanti Niwas (‘House of Peace’). All the construction work, land terracing and road building are undertaken by the local villagers of the area and with amazing results considering that none of them had construction training. Shanti Van operates with solar power and has telephone and internet connection. Water is pumped from the riverand a tube well ensuring constant supply. We would like to increase our use of renewable energy sources by utilising wind power; we welcome volunteers that could help us with this project.
A number of projects are currently being set up or under construction:
A clinic is now being built and will provide access to health care to Vadad Hasol and neighbouring villages.
Foundations for accommodations for HIV positive children and their parents have recently been laid.
We are planning to build a catering college to train local children and improve their employment prospects.
We would like to undertake landscape and irrigation works on our land and create a beautiful garden, where vegetables and medicinal plants could also be planted.
We are quarrying sand from the river bed washing and grading it into aggregates for concrete and sand for mortar and plastering. Our building costs have been reduced by our own production of concrete blocks and stabilised earth blocks. By the introduction of these highly labour intensive low skill projects not only have our building costs been reduced but new livelihoods and employment for the future have been created.
Shanti Van has been providing work to local people for the past six years. This is an opportunity for them to learn new skills that can be used to get employment in the future.