Durga Maya Andersen is from Pokhara, Nepal. After earning a degree in civil engineering, she left Nepal to study in the United States. She worked as a teacher’s assistant at a Montessori school in the Detroit suburbs and enjoyed it so much that she decided to become a Montessori teacher herself. She took a master’s in mathematics education from Wayne State University. She moved to California after being accepted as a PhD candidate by the University of California, Santa Barbara; but she found it too expensive. To survive in California, she had to leave the program to find full-time work.
 
She taught 7th grade math for many years at Terra Cotta Middle School in Lake Elsinore, California. Before retiring early, she had taught 26 years in both private and public schools in both Michigan and California.
 
Durga Maya’s volunteer activities started in Pokhara where she was president of her tribal youth club. One of her fondest memories was gathering street children to bring them to the tribal community house to shower, feed and tutor. In Lake Elsinore, she would take her students to the local food bank to smile and pass out food on distribution day. Nearly three quarters of the students at Terra Cotta were on food assistance. She also served as faculty adviser to the Green Team, a school club tasked with reducing the school’s environmental footprint, among other things.
 
Durga Maya's return to Nepal in 2017 brought clarity of purpose. She had wanted to empower young girls by empowering single mothers. For two years she helped a residential school for orphaned girls by sponsoring music and Zumba classes. She also tutored and hosted workshops on health and healing.
 
In 2020, Durga Maya and her husband, Dave, established the Kindness Club Motherland at Motherland Secondary School in Pokhara, her hometown. They have also established a club in Kutaisi, Georgia; a second club in Pokhara, Nepal, and another in Cuenca, Ecuador. She believes that teaching academics only is not enough; her vision is to teach children to engage the world with thoughtful heads, kind hearts and helping hands— making them the best human beings. She believes that education without the heart and hands is no education at all. She has a passion for volunteering, loves traveling and enjoys dancing.