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In the list of almost 5,000 people who have managed to crown Mount Everest in history, there is only one black African woman. His name is Saray Khumalo and his feat of 2019 has turned his life into a path of solidarity challenges that has just given him the title of African pioneer in the South Pole. "We all have these dreams that are like on the bookshelf and that we say 'aahh, you shouldn't see me doing this' ... You know what? Like that is what the person next door is waiting to move forward. For me, it is very important that our generation paves the way for the next one, "explains Khumalo, a newcomer from Antarctica, in an interview in Johannesburg.
Khumalo has still bandaged his thumb that froze a few weeks ago on his trip to the South Pole and forced him to cancel his first attempt to climb the Vinson massif (4,892 meters), in his career to conquer the highest peaks of all continents and to reach the two geographical poles, in a challenge known as the Grand Slam of the Explorers .
Although he did not reach Vinson, his first attempt in Antarctica was not a failure either. The trip made her the first African black woman to step on the southernmost point on Earth, as she had already done on May 16, 2019 with the highest point on the planet, Mount Everest (8,848 meters).
In her resume, this adventurer already has four of the seven ascents she needs to complete the Grand Slam of the Explorers , plus the arrival at the South Pole, and in April she will head north to face the Arctic for the first time.
"For me, (life) is about not making excuses and not apologizing for what you like, what you want to do, what interests you ... And go for it and don't let the world dictate who you should be, "he confesses.
A "daughter of Africa"
Khumalo, 48, considers herself a true "daughter of Africa." He resides in South Africa, but was born in Zambia, his grandparents are Rwandans and in his student stage he also spent time in Zimbabwe and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. That means that when he achieves a goal, he sticks at the same time many flags on behalf of the women of the continent.
"The previous generation gave us the freedom we experience today, we are 50% women in Parliament (South African) ... What will my generation do for the next? We are teaching them that the world is full of opportunities to catch , not obstacles to overcome, "explains Khumalo, who besides being a mountaineer is always presented as a businesswoman and mother of two children.
"For me, (life) is about not making excuses and not apologizing for what you like, what you want to do, what interests you ... And go for it and don't let the world dictate who you should be"
In fact, Saray Khumalo's adventure with this extreme sport began almost by chance when he was 40 years old. Although when he was younger, no one in his family or his environment had ever had a relationship with mountaineering, Khumalo put on his "list" of dreams to fulfill in life climbing to Kilimanjaro (5,895 meters), the summit more Africa high.
"Someone talked about climbing Kilimanjaro and I had not done it. I thought 'as an African woman I have to do that, I have to step on the top of Africa'. And I did it," he recalls. It was then that it occurred to him that he was not going to stop there, but that he was going to embark on the challenge of crowning the highest mountains on all continents. She was going to do it, in addition, raising funds for education projects - the tool that she considers most important to reach summits, either literal or metaphorical - under the Summits with a Purpose campaign.
Crown mountains to give others education
Donations and support from sponsors multiplied in mid-May, from the day that South Africa woke up full of holders with her name, credited as the first black African to crown Everest. That "fame", unexpected for her because until then she had been just one more anonymous citizen, Khumalo has taken it as a "responsibility" focused on making the world a "better place."
She wants the next people who try something that had never been done to never have to listen to the "you shouldn't be doing this" that she had to endure — as many white people as her own race — during the five years she was trying to conquer Everest.
The funds he raises with his campaign and, now also, with the help of a South African health and insurance program for which he also serves as an executive, are destined to pay for studies in the student business area that, even taking the note and the qualities, you cannot pay a career or a graduate. The idea is that, later, those same students return the loan from their improved social position and help the next generation of students.
In addition, Khumalo argues that with his project he helps create "role models", necessary in all disciplines, including those that historically have not been dominated by African women, such as mountaineering.
"I guess - he concludes - that there have been more important things in the past than climbing mountains, how to get our freedom, how to put food on tables ... But I think that as the world becomes our global village, our interests will they become much more similar no matter where we are. "