HEART OF GOLD ADVENTURES:
The purpose of Heart of Gold Adventures is to offer Hudson Valley teens an educational experience that includes cultural awareness and appreciation, service to others, and the fun of adventure, so they can be empowered to gain a greater sense of themselves and the world. Participants develop a passion for exploration and community engagement, and learn skills to empower themselves to put their dreams into action. Each year we bring a group of teens for 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 is the inspiration for this trip and the way we are carrying out her dream. In Nepal, we travel alongside Nepali teens who have been orphaned or abandoned, or whose families could not offer they care they needed. We partner with carefully vetted NGO’s in Nepal to ensure that our funds are being used appropriately. A component of the trip includes working alongside survivors of trafficking on a five day Himalayan trek, and in an educational setting in a classroom in Kathmandu. Our teens travel and learn with Nepali teens, and bring their experiences back to the Hudson Valley through Community Presentations they offer.

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

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