HEART OF GOLD ADVENTURES:
The purpose of Heart of Gold Adventures we to offer Hudson Valley teens an educational experience that includes cultural awareness and appreciation, service to others, and the fun of adventure, so they could be empowered to gain a greater sense of themselves and the world. Participants developed a passion for exploration and community engagement, and learned skills to empower themselves to put their dreams into action. Each year, we brought a group of teens on this two-week trip to Nepal. In 2018, we brought fifteen teens on the trip with six adult Team Leaders, and in 2019 sixteen teens joined us. After a two-year hiatus due to the Covid pandemic, we returned to Nepal in 2022 with seven teens and three adult Team Leaders.

Maya’s vision to end human sexual trafficking was the inspiration for this trip and the way we carried out her dream. In Nepal, we traveled alongside Nepali teens who had been orphaned, abandoned, or whose families could not offer the care they needed. We partnered with carefully vetted NGO’s in Nepal to ensure that our funds were being used appropriately. A component of the trip included working alongside survivors of trafficking on a five-day Himalayan trek and in a classroom in Kathmandu. Our teens traveled and learned with Nepali teens, and brought their experiences back to the Hudson Valley through Community Presentations they offer.

Currently, the Heart of Gold trips for teens are on pause. However, our on-the-ground work in Nepal continues, as we will be traveling to Nepal in the spring of 2026 to work directly with NGO’s and schools, bringing tailored curricula to students/educators and mental health tools to organizations that work with trafficked individuals.

TESTIMONIALS:
“This foundation is serving humanity in the true sense. I personally witnessed the ethos, rigor and spirit of The Maya Gold Foundation in Kathmandu in 2018. I must appreciate the Foundation’s effort for engaging the youth in constructive ways and serving society in a larger perspective.”
-Asheesh, Professor of Education, Vishva Bharati University

“What an amazing group of people. The organization’s dedication to helping youth in the Hudson Valley and in Nepal is phenomenal. Every single one of the public events they have sponsored has been moving beyond words and I know others have been touched by their work as I have. Their cross cultural travel to Nepal with local teens has been transformational. My son went on the trip this year and it has changed his outlook on life and his desire to be a leader. I can’t say enough about the Maya Gold Foundation.”
-Rachel, Youth Ambassador Parent

“Learning about life in Asia gave my child a different perspective on her own life and opened her heart to the suffering of different people, the value of human connections and that it is possible to find happiness in small things. Overall, it was a very culturally and spiritually enriching experience that has given her not only close friends and bright memories, but it may also give her a sense of purpose in life.”
– Heart of Gold Adventures 2022 Parent

“I wanted to have a generally spiritual experience and just learn more about spirituality and ways to involve it into my life here at home. I feel that I did accomplish this. I learned lots of new things and I was especially interested in Buddhist practices. I learned how to reach a more peaceful mind.”
– Heart of Gold Adventures 2022 Youth Ambassador

VIDEOS: