Saray Khumalo, the first black African on top of Everest and at the South Pole

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 2019 feat 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 shelf and that we say 'aahh, you shouldn't see me doing this' … You know what? That's what the person next door is waiting to be able to move forward. For me, it's very important that our generation paves the way for the next one, “he explains to Efe Khumalo, just arrived from Antarctica, in an interview in Johannesburg.

Khumalo has bandaged his thumb that froze a few weeks ago on his trip to the South Pole and forced 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 at Antarctica was also not a failure. 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 curriculum, 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 set course north to face the Arctic for the first time. “For me, (life) goes from 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 an authentic “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 Africa) … What will my generation do for the next? We are teaching them that the world is full of opportunities to catch, not about obstacles to overcome, “explains Khumalo, who, in addition to being a mountaineer, always appears as a businesswoman and mother of two children.

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 from 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 highest summit high of africa. “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 of all the continents. She was going to do it, in addition, raising funds for education projects – the tool she considers most important to reach peaks, whether literal or meta-African – under the 'Summits with a Purpose' campaign.

Crowning mountains to educate others

Donations and sponsor support multiplied in mid-May, as of the day that South Africa woke up full of name holders, credited as the first black African to crown Everest.

That “fame”, unexpected for her because until then she had been only one more 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 – both white people and her 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 which, 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 have not historically been dominated by African women, as is the case with mountaineering.

“I suppose – 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 the tables … But I think that as the world becomes our global village, our interests are they become much more similar no matter where we are. “