After her 10th Kilimanjaro summit, Saray Khumalo remains committed to education, climbing for a cause and inspiring ordinary citizens to join.
She moves proverbial mountains for children by climbing the highest mountains around the world.
Saray Khumalo, the first black African woman to summit Mount Everest in 2019, recently returned from Tanzania after a seven-day journey up and down Kilimanjaro (Kili) to raise money for education.
This was her 10th summit of the highest mountain in Africa.
Summits with a Purpose
Through her expeditions, the 53-year-old has managed to build 16 libraries for underprivileged schools in South Africa and raised money towards building one in neighbouring Namibia.
“My dream is to build at least one library in every country on the continent,” she tells The Citizen.
Khumalo’s journey to the top of mountains started in 2012 after launching her initiative, Summits with a Purpose.
The initiative, which has now morphed into a non-profit organisation (NPO), aims to make adventure activities like hiking and climbing more accessible to ordinary citizens, while encouraging them to do so for a cause.
“When I left corporate four years ago, I made Summits with a Purpose into a Non-Profit Company. And one of the things that was real for me was the fact that I’m not going to climb forever,” Khumalo said.
Trek4Education and sustainable impact
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How could she make it sustainable? How could she garner people’s support?
Because education for the next generation was an important cause, Khumalo decided that at least 15% of the profit from all her businesses would go towards it.
She owns an electro-muscular fitness training studio, Body20, in Sunninghill, Johannesburg, and is an executive coach.
The Zambian-born South African mountaineer also launched Trek4Education in 2023, organising fundraising climbs in Africa and mountains around Everest.
Her latest Kili endeavour was alongside 20 climbers – 11 Americans, two Europeans, one Namibian and six South Africans.
The team of 20 women and one man raised $1 000 (R17 600), painted a block at the Second Chance Education Centre and the First Chance Kindergarten, located at the foot of Kili. They also donated clothes and books.
Khumalo has summited all seven of the highest mountains in the world, and says every one is a different challenge.
The Tanzanian peak, however, has a special place in her heart.
“The fact that you go through the forest, more land, semi-desert, and suddenly you are at the glacier… within one climb. And you don’t necessarily need any technical gear.”
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Everest, on the other hand, requires her to be away from home for two months.
“I have a love-hate relationship with Everest. It’s the weather, it’s the route… and when you acclimatise, you have to use supplemental oxygen.”
But you must never underestimate any mountain, she says, because everyone has their own Everest.
“Kili is somebody’s Everest.”
Lessons from the mountains
Climbing mountains has taught Khumalo a lot about dealing with real-life challenges.
One of them is taken from the fact that Everest climbers don’t use the same guide to base camp as they do to the summit.
“Not everyone who starts the journey with you deserves to be with you at the end. You just need to realise who it is that you need to get to the next level,” she says.
“Just like our Grade 7 teachers were amazing, they were irrelevant for tertiary, right? Not because they were bad people, but they were not going to work for us. Many times in life, we are loyal to our own detriment.”
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She says that this outlook has helped her walk away unapologetically from situations.
“I’m not going to live forever. So why am I wasting time?”
The climbs have also helped her in her journey of mothering her two sons, Azinkosi, 28, and Ocacile, 22.
Among her many achievements, she published a memoir titled My Journey to the Top of the World in 2022.
The road to the Explorers Grand Slam
It might seem like she has done it all, but there’s one more feat Khumalo wants to achieve – being part of the few people who have completed the Explorers Grand Slam.
About 73 people have achieved this globally — having summited all seven peaks and skied to the North and South Pole.
“I skied to the North Pole in 2019, but skiing to the North Pole is proving elusive,” Khumalo says.
Until then, she still enjoys being a Guiness World Record holder and the first black African woman to reach the South Pole and the summit of Mount Everest.
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