Off the Beaten Path: My Roundabout Journey to Humanitarianism

By Maya Annika Dayal

Maya Dayal is a (fairly) normal American teenager. There is one thing, however, that sets her apart from other teenagers: her global travels. Since she was a young girl, she has been traveling with her family to remote destinations, including the North Pole, the South Pole, the Galapagos Islands, the Amazon Rainforest, French Polynesia, and the jungles of Uganda and Rwanda.

Every trip she takes compels her to question the status quo: Why do social inequalities exist? To what extent is it her responsibility to bring awareness to these issues? What exactly is her place in the world?

As she becomes shaped by the things she’s seen and the people she’s met, she begins to work on creating awareness of the global issues she has seen firsthand. Her travels inspire her to create presentations, start clubs, launch websites, and establish a socially-conscious company that donates profits to charities.

Her inspirational story can serve as an example to young people around the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Jun 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483452388

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Off the Beaten Path

My Roundabout Journey to Humanitarianism

Maya Annika Dayal

Copyright © 2016 Maya Annika Dayal

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-5239-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-5238-8 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 6/16/2016

To my mother, for everything that she has done for me

To my sister, for setting a good example

To my father, for providing

To those around the world who suffer from poverty

It’s the well-behaved children ... that make the most formidable revolutionaries.

They don’t say a word, they don’t hide under the table, they eat only one piece of chocolate at a time.

But later on they make society pay dearly.

— Jean-Paul Sartre

I am a (fairly) normal American teenager.

I go to high school. I have a messy bedroom. I spend way too much time on social media. I listen to music on my headphones. I stay up late texting my friends. And once I care about something, I often become obsessed with it.

There is, however, one thing that sets me apart from other teenagers: my global travels and experiences. I have been traveling with my family to exotic locations around the world since I was ten years old. Together, we’ve been to remote and unusual places such as the North Pole, the South Pole, the Galapagos Islands, the Amazon Rainforest, and French Polynesia. We have balanced our off the beaten path traveling by visiting more traditional destinations as well, such as countries in Europe and Africa. All of these places have provided me with unique experiences and opportunities for self-reflection and for questioning my place in this world.

Like all travelers, I have been shaped by the things I’ve seen and the people I’ve met. My experiences around the world have molded me, slowly but surely, into a humanitarian. By no means is this the only path to activism, but this has been my journey.

I am the sum of my travels.

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.

— Charles Darwin

Galapagos Islands, August 2009

This is our first family expedition — our first time traveling to a location that is off-the-beaten-path.» I am excited by the blue footed boobies, the marine iguanas that sneeze on me when I walk past them on the beach, and the sea lion beach master" that tries to intimidate me when I (accidentally) get too close to him.

One family on our expedition has two sons, both of whom like to wander away from our naturalist guide and the rest of the group. While unsupervised, they break the (obvious, but unspoken) laws of responsible nature travel; they do things like kick the skeletal remains of a sea lion or pick up an albatross egg from a nest while the parent birds are out feeding. This family is