Sharing positive content and narratives on Africa

aray Khumalo: Conquering Mountains

“I was told that I couldn’t, because I was female... I was Black … and I needed a man to go with me. Nobody who was like me had done it before. I was told ‘the sky is the limit,’ but I found S myself standing above the clouds,” Saray Khumalo. Saray Khumalo is the First Black African Woman to not only reach the South Pole, but to summit !

Currently living in South Africa, Saray describes herself as being passionate about Africa. She was born in Zambia, one of seven girls to a Rwandese mother and Zambian father and went to school in Zimbabwe. She also lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo and speaks fluent kiSwahili.

Saray jokes that she is an accidental mountaineer, having summited Mount Everest only on her fourth attempt. In an interview with the BAIAfrica Initiative (Being African In Africa), Saray spoke to Hakima Haithar on how it feels to conquer the peak of one of the highest points on the face of the earth, and what drove her to do it the first place.

“My childhood superheroes did not look like me and they did not speak like me. I am a mountaineer because I enjoy it and I also use it to raise money for education, because I believe education is the equaliser. We are all uniquely extraordinary and can make a difference by being authentic to who we are as Africans,” she explains.

Saray Khumalo has to date, built five libraries and is in the process of building nine more, having raised more than R2,5 million simply by daring to step out of her comfort zone.

Saray describes her trip to the South Pole as being different in many ways. She had to learn to ski with the wind hitting her on all sides, in temperatures that dipped to a low of - 52°C. Recounting her trek of six days to reach the Pole, she encapsulates the experience in one word - amazing.

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Sharing positive content and narratives on Africa

Carrying the title of ‘the First Black Woman to reach the South Pole and to summit Mount Everest’ is both humbling and a privilege. However, it comes with great responsibility. Saray uses the title to nudge others, both young and old, to realise how ‘uniquely unique’ we all are, stating that for too long a time, she had lived the ordinary life because that was what was expected of her. She goes on to state that, “Being ordinary is overrated, let’s go out there and be extraordinary, because that is the only way we can change the world and change the narrative.”

Saray also recently broke the Guinness World Record in a cyclothon, spinning for eight hours to raise money for education, in support of an initiative called iSchoolAfrica.

What is next on her agenda? Saray Khumalo is getting ready for the Explorers Grand Slam – a goal for adventurers to reach the North and South Poles. It also includes climbing the (Everest, , , Kilimanjaro, Vinson, , ). And yes, she will climb Everest again!

You can watch the full interview at: https://youtu.be/LfXl3JNbDmI

©BAIAfrica Initiative

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