KATHMANDU, Nepal–United States Secretary of State John Kerry has met with seven Nepali women mountaineers in Washington on Wednesday.
For promoting women’s empowerment, education, and environmental awareness, the Nepali women climbers are visiting Washington DC and Los Angeles from July 16 to 23. Nepali climbers said they felt prestige and honour to meet Kerry.
“We were honored to meet the US Secretary of State John Kerry and to find out his daughter has trekked to Everest Base Camp. He knows Mt Everest well. He shared that he has wanted to be in Nepal for the longest time. He hopes to visit Nepal soon and possibly even trek with us!”, women climbers write on their facebook page.
The women group includes Shushmita Maskey, Shaili Basnet, Nimdoma Sherpa, Maya Gurung, Poojan Acharya, Usha Bista, Asha Kumari Singh, Nawang Futi Sherpa, Chunu Shrestha and Pema Diki Sherpa. Their ages range from 18 to 31 years.
The women team is also meeting with top U.S. officials, non-governmental organizations, and youth groups to discuss ways to encourage women and girls across the globe to reach new heights in their home communities, as well as ways to build community-based environmental conservation programs.
“Secretary Kerry met with the women on their first day in Washington as participants in the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP),” the US Department of State states in a release.
The State Department further informed that it works to advance the rights of women and girls to ensure they have equal rights and opportunities to contribute to their societies.
Since 2008, the seven summits women have visited more than 200 schools in Nepal, Australia, Russia, Tanzania, Argentina, and the United States, and engaged hundreds of local women in outdoor activities with the goal of inspiring them to participate in activities traditionally considered off-limits to women.
The all-women team had climbed Mt. McKinley (Denali) in Alaska on June 24 and has now reached the top of six of the seven summits of the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. Only Antarctica’s Mount Vinson remains for them to conquer. Their goal is to become the first all-female team to climb the highest mountain on each continent.