Funny, She Doesn't Look Like An Arctic Explorer
February 9, 2010, update from the Dubai Today show (weekdays 09:00 - 12:00 on Dubai 103.8):
Jessica Swann, broadcaster extraordinaire, and Mohammed Parham Awadhi, co-founder of Wild Peeta, interview 27-year-old Elham Al Qasimi, a United Arab Emirates National woman who intends to be become the first United Arab Emirates National, and thus also the first UAE National WOMAN, and the first Arab woman, to attempt reaching the North Pole unassisted and unsupported.
Click on the player to hear the interview and read the story below. Follow Al Qasimi on twitter here: @PolarBent.
February 7, 2010, Dubai, UAE: Shayla- and abbaya-clad Elham Al Qasimi is about to knock some strongly held stereotypes on the head.
She’s poised to be become the first United Arab Emirates National, and thus also the first UAE National WOMAN, to attempt reaching the North Pole unassisted and unsupported.
The 27-year-old Emirati, who was born and raised in the UAE (a small desert nation in the Arabian Gulf), plans to start at 89 degrees latitude and cross-country ski to the Pole, using her own steam and/or dogsleds to carry all the supplies she needs for the challenging solo, three-week, 100-nautical-mile trek.
And she’s not just doing it for fun (!).
Besides raising money for charity, Al Qasimi has clear goals in mind. She wants to inspire people, particularly young Emirati women, to reach for the stars and maintain positive attitudes in these troubled times.
"I want to showcase this trek as an example of drive and ambition that inspires women to aim higher and reach further. I strongly feel that this accomplishment is one for the entire nation of the UAE rather than just a personal accomplishment," she says.
"It will illustrate the drive, discipline, and ambition of all young UAE nationals and symbolise traits which are transferable across all goals, [be it] educational, professional, and physical," she says.
Al Qasimi is training hard for the trip, which is scheduled to start in mid-April, and which she says will tap into her reserves of optimism, ambition, humility and discipline.
Bravo to Al Qasimi for having the courage to even attempt such a journey. Women with this kind of get-up-and-go demonstrate that the realm of possibility is limited only by our own imagination.
Based on an article
By Mariam M. al Serkal
Gulf News