As one of her single mother’s seven daughters, Saray Khumalo’s fondest memories included listening to her grandfather’s wisdom. He would often say, “If you don’t live a life of service, it’s a wasted life.” That phrase would drive her when she decided to quit her job and begin her journey to become the first black African woman to summit Mount Everest. And again, the phrase now plays a crucial role in her quest to overcome nature’s toughest obstacles as she gets ready to travel to the North Pole in 2024 and complete the last challenge in the Explorer’s Grand Slam – reaching the North and South Poles as well as summiting the seven highest peaks in the world. She travels to Australia this April to reach the peak of Mount Kosciuszko, to mark her seventh highest summit as part of her quest to complete this monumental task.
Becoming one of the few people in the world to complete the Explorers Grand Slam and the 7 summits is also a first for a black African woman. It is not the only reason Khumalo is travelling to Santa’s backyard, her quest is also part of a broader mission to encourage reading and promote the importance of education across South Africa. This journey has seen Saray, together with key partners, build mobile tablet stations across South African schools for youth in underserviced communities across the country.
“I summited Mount Everest on my fourth attempt. When I did, I remembered my mother telling me how the sky was the limit and thinking how wrong she was. The sky is just the beginning, and it’s only because someone cared enough to invest in my education that I was able to learn that. I want to be able to pass that on to African children and show them that we have limitless potential,” said Khumalo.
To ensure that others would have the chance to dream as big as she did, Khumalo partnered with iSchoolAfrica and South Africa’s leading fibre network operator, Vuma, to provide and connect nine mobile tablet stations across the country.
“I believe that education is a great equaliser and when I saw during the pandemic that so many kids would miss out on their education because they did not have access to laptops and iPads, I knew something had to be done,” explained Khumalo.
The mobile libraries are internet-enabled units giving learners digital access to content and devices. As part of Vuma’s fibre to schools connectivity programme, internet access for the libraries within the Vuma network is free, uncapped and indefinite.
“Through our connectivity and funding support of iSchoolAfrica we are helping Saray give as many children as possible the opportunity to explore the world around them. Thanks to the power of connectivity and education, our partnership with Saray is letting South African youth know that there is room for everybody to dream and grow, no matter where they are,” says Lianne Williams, Marketing Director at Vuma.
Since its establishment 3 years ago, the programme has given 1 400 learners access to curriculum-aligned digital libraries and trained more than 70 teachers. Each of those children now knows the sky is not the limit, you can dream even bigger than that and in a few years’ time, many more will too.
