Nimdoma Sherpa
The youngest woman to climb Everest 2008, Mount Everest basecamp, Nepal
Interviewed: May 2008
With the support of World Food Programme in 2008, Nimdoma Sherpa (17) became the youngest woman to summit Mount Everest. “I was born in the Sherpa caste and grew up in a mountain village with the dream of climbing mountains,” said Nindoma. “The Sherpa are known as mountain heroes and I always wanted to live up to my name.” Since summiting Everest, Nindoma dreams of becoming a social worker for the World Food Programme, an organization dedicated to ending global hunger. “Without the World Food Programme, I could not have participated in the expedition. Now it is my turn to give back to the world.”
Nimdoma’s impact on Miho
When Nimdoma talked about her name, it made me think about my name, its significance, and what it really means to live up to a name. In Japanese, the characters that comprise my name translate to a vision of a person who protects people, culture, and the environment. To live up to my name in that moment meant I would continue to focus my project on women working for social and environmental justice. It led me to choose Kenya’s Green Belt Movement as my next destination. This organization was founded by Wangari Maathai, the first African woman and the first environmentalist to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Wangari has dedicated decades to planting trees to conserve Kenya’s forest and advocates environmental conservation, cultures of peace, and women’s empowerment.
Read a story of Katherine, a member of the Green Belt Movement
