|
"I am often asked: why on earth do you
climb?
I will give you a simple answer:
"You cannot stay on the summit forever;
you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place?
Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is
below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One
descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an
art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory
of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one
can at least still know." Rene Daumal
I am Palestinian Arab woman, residing in Dubai,
who believes in that our Arab womanhood should not stop us
from pursuing our dreams and exploring new horizons. Besides
my full time role as a mother of two girls, a full time career,
I am a keen mountaineer who humbly is:
- " The first Palestinian
Arab Woman to climb and summit Kilimanjaro - The highest
point in Africa"
- " The first Palestinian
Arab Woman to hold both the UAE and Palestinian flags in
the Himalayas at Everest Camp one on 18,500 ft"
- " The first Palestinian Arab woman who climbed Mont Blanc in 2007 in my second attempt after having to turn back due to bad weather in 2004"
- " The first Arab
Woman to climb and summit Mount Elbrus, the highest in Europe"
For a long time I used to
do this without any publicity at all, and only when the media
somehow learned about this and covered my trips is when I
started receiving some interest in my little story and a network
of avid mountaineers/ climbers/ hikers started to weave…
where we can learn and get inspired about each other's stories
and aspirations.
I know, from my personal
experience that initially I was looked upon as "weird"
and with remarks on why on earth did I want to do this and
pursue this "crazy dream". Well I did, and I feel
great and the same people that called me weird and crazy are
the ones who encourage me now and look upon this as "inspiring".
Some of them even started mountaineering themselves!
Finally I will leave you
with this beautiful quote from a Tibetan nun: "It is
easy to be inspired but it is so hard to act" "
|
