Saray Khumalo, who has conquered five mountains, uses her expeditions to raise funds for children's education in Africa
By Gopal Sharma
KATHMANDU, May 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A South African mountaineer reached the top of Mount Everest on Thursday, becoming the first black African woman to conquer the world's highest mountain, her expedition organiser and her government said.
Saray N'kusi Khumalo, a 47-year-old e-commerce executive, scaled the 8,850-metre (29,035-foot) mountain after three failed attempts that were foiled by bad weather and a deadly earthquake in 2015.
"With her birth in Zambia, Rwandan bloodline and now a South African, this sister of Africa has achieved her goal of becoming the first black woman from Africa to summit Mount Everest," her expedition organiser, Summits with a Purpose, said on Facebook.
Congratulations to iMbokodo Saray Khumalo for being the first Black African Woman to reach the top of the world by conquering Mount Everest. Bosso ke wena! #SarayKhumalo pic.twitter.com/yZ9Gsq7WLH
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) May 16, 2019
Mira Acharya, a Nepal tourism department official, confirmed Khuwalo's ascent, but did not say if she was the first black African woman to do so.
However, Mingma Sherpa of the Seven Summit Treks hiking agency, which provided local support to Khumalo, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that the record feat was one "hundred percent" true.
"Congratulations to iMbokodo (strong woman) Saray Khumalo for being the first Black African Woman to reach the top of the world by conquering Mount Everest," South Africa's government said on Twitter.
"Bosso ke wena!", it added, which means "you are the boss" in the local Sesotho language.
Khumalo, who has conquered five mountains, including Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Aconcagua in Argentina and Mount Elbrus in Russia, uses her expeditions to raise funds for children's education and libraries in Africa.
She also dedicates her quests to "women and girls, daughters of the African soil who dare to dream", Khumalo says on her website.
Nepal is home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountains. The climbing season ends in May and hundreds of climbers are currently on Everest.
In 2003, Sibusiso Emmanuel Vilane, a South African park ranger, became the first black person to summit Mount Everest, according to Himalayan archives that record major climbs.
Everest, which straddles the Nepal-China border, has been climbed by nearly 5,000 people since it was first scaled by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa in 1953, according to a post by Everest blogger Alan Arnette.
(Writing by Annie Banerji @anniebanerji, Additional reporting by Kim Harrisberg in Johannesburg; Editing by Jason Fields; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters that covers humanitarian issues, conflicts, land and property rights, modern slavery and human trafficking, gender equality, climate change and resilience. Visit http://news.trust.org to see more stories)
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