I, too, vote for Wasfia Nazreen everyday!
Taking a cue from our pride, and Bangladesh's only Nobel Prize winner, Professor Muhammad Yunus, I, too, vote for mountaineer and human rights activist Wasfia Nazreen every day. Wasfia is up for the People's Choice Award for the National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, 2015. There are ten candidates. The person receiving the most fan votes will win. Individuals can cast a vote for their favourite candidate once every day until January 31, 2015. Anyone can vote.
The link is: http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/adventurers-of-the-year/2015/vote/#/happy-summit-everest-bangladesh_85266_600x450.jpg
We Bangladeshis are a small nation size-wise, but are packed with a lot of people. If many of us vote for Wasfia every day, she will win. Whether Wasfia wins or not is in our hands. Let us make it happen!
And she absolutely deserves it! Not only has Wasfia climbed Mount Everest, if she summits Oceania's Carstensz Pyramid next year, she will be one of the very few, male or female mountaineers, to have climbed all the Seven Summits -- the highest peaks on every continent. As a marathoner I can testify that running a marathon is hard; but, what Wasfia has accomplished is an order of magnitude harder.
Anyone who chooses a sedentary lifestyle from childhood pays a price with systemic ailments as they age. Yet, as Wasfia recounts in her National Geographic interview, girls (boys, too) are discouraged from participating in outdoor activities in Bangladesh. For Wasfia to buck that trend, and achieve physical feats that women (and men) from western nations would envy, is simply staggering! We are in awe of Wasfia, and marvel at her monumental achievements. The whole of Bangladesh adores Wasfia, and is proud of her.
We Bangladeshis are a close-knit unit. We brag about Bangladeshis who excel. I was heartbroken when architect par excellence Fazlur Rahman (architect of Chicago's Sear's Tower, one time tallest building in the world) died in 1982. We are so proud of Yunus Bhai and Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, both of whom continue to receive international accolades and win honours for Bangladesh regularly. Of course, we always point out that the founder of Khan Academy, Salman Khan, and the co-founder of You Tube and PayPal, Jawed Karim, are both of Bangladeshi origin.
Although ladies have been the prime ministers and leaders of the opposition in Bangladesh for the last 23 years, and Bangladesh boasts of world renowned female singers, in the field of sports women have not made their mark until recently. Now they are doing so by leaps and bounds. When Nishat Majumder and Wasfia Nazreen scaled Mount Everest in quick succession in 2012, it was as though they carried the pride of all Bangladeshis with them.
The more I learn about Wasfia, the more she impresses me. Unlike many other Everest climbers, Wasfia was not gratified with the superstardom that comes with summiting Mount Everest. She decided to climb all seven summits on every continent.
Wasfia did not rest on her laurels as an international celebrity; instead, she became a human rights activist, rehabilitating sex workers and empowering girls and women. Through personal example she is teaching Bangladeshi girls to be independent and brave, to defy superstition and inane opposition, and to chart a course for themselves. She is teaching Bangladeshi women and men that we should not depend on the foreign NGOs to solve all our social problems; we should learn to solve them ourselves.
Wasfia has funded organisations with the express purpose of encouraging girls and women in general, and the marginalised women in particular, to participate in outdoor activities. Wasfia Nazreen is an inspiration to women and men all over the world.
Bangladeshis at home and abroad celebrate the achievements of their superstars vicariously. Lately, my mood has been buoyed by Bangladesh cricket team's 3-0 whitewash of Zimbabwe. Wasfia has already made Bangladeshis everywhere proud of her accomplishments. In return, if we make Wasfia win the National Geographic's Adventurer of the Year, 2015 contest, the whole of Bangladesh will bask in her glory.
The writer is a Rhodes Scholar.
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