Woman climbs to Kilimanjaro summit to raise funds for girls’ education

Beyazıt Şenbük- ISTANBUL

A 30-year-old woman has climbed Africa’s highest mountain, Kilimanjaro, to raise funds for six girls’ four years of education as part of the “To the Top for Educated Girls” campaign.

As Müge Naoko Gönül was a scholarship student of the Turkish Educational Foundation (TEV), she wanted to contribute to the education of other children through the foundation.

In order to turn her traveling spirit to an advantage for girls, Gönül decided to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to draw attention to the “To the Top for Educated Girls” campaign.

On Jan. 14, she went to Tanzania and then to Kenya to climb Kilimanjaro, and after about a week of adventure, Gönül reached the top of the mountain.

In this campaign, they reached the amount that will cover the four-year scholarship of six female vocational high school students.

“This support fund will remain open, and others will also be able to climb for this fund. The first goal is to increase this number and provide scholarships to 10 female students,” Gönül noted.

“I began imagining the moment of my arrival at the summit even before I set off, but that moment of real arrival was far beyond my dreams. I was so tired. I felt like I was going to pass out due to high altitude sickness. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Gönül expressed.

“The moment I saw the Uhuru Peak [the top of Kilimanjaro] sign, my eyes filled with tears. I was both very proud of myself and very happy that I did not disappoint all the beautiful people who shared this path with me for the education of our girls,” she said.

Stating that towards the peak, the oxygen in the air dropped to 50 percent, and her body reacted to it, Gönül said, “In my difficult moments, I thought about my goal and education of the girls.”

“When I felt this, giving up was never an option, I was just focused on going all the way until I ran out of energy.”