Viata is the Romanian word for "The Life" and is the name of our challenging and encouraging adventure education program that provides young Romanians with the tools for making socio-economic development possible. Viata is the key for many Romanian youth to realize that despair does not have to be a way of life and that there is beauty, joy, love, hope and friendship in this world.

Youth ages 13 to 18 are eligible for participation in the Viata Program. These youth come from the Jiu Valley - a mono-industral coal mining region, the state-run orphanages in Hunedoara County, and elsewhere in Romania.

The Viata Program utilizes adventure education to instill positive values, self-confidence and teamwork. Romania's traditional educational system is all too often authoritarian in nature and provides very few hands-on experiences. Adventure education empowers its participants to learn by the experience itself; it provides an invaluable solution to overcome post-Communist apathy, distrust and lack of social responsibility. Viata uses adventure education to take participants out of their natural environments, provide specific adventurous activities (rock-climbing, hiking, ropes courses, caving and orienteering), and utilize these activities to teach life lessons and impart positive values that will ultimately help to establish sustainable and civic society development.

Over 2000 youth have come through the Viata Program the last four years. Since most of the participants do not have the financial means to pay for their week at Viata (the cost for summer 2005 is $106 for the entire week), New Horizons Foundation solicits donations to make Viata feasible for 500 youth each summer.

If you would like to make a contribution, directions are available here.

Without commitments from people like you, Viata and a new outlook on life would not be available for these kids. Thank you for your support.

To learn more about why the Viata Program is necessary in the Jiu Valley and in Romania, click here.

To see what a typical week at camp entails, click here

New: video about Jiu Valley and Straja Mountain