ISLAMABAD: The Adventure Diplomacy Group (ADG) celebrated the achievements of Mirza Ali and Samina Baig on successfully completing their Adventure Diplomacy Expedition of conquering ‘Seven Summits in Seven Continents.’

Samina Baig made history on May 19, 2013 by becoming the youngest Muslim woman and first Pakistani woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. After the siblings, Samina and Mirza, returned from Everest, Serena Hotels founded ADG to help them realise their dream of becoming the first siblings to climb seven peaks in seven continents.

Also read: Samina Baig becomes first Pakistani woman to conquer seven highest peaks

The summits include Mount Aconcagua in Argentina, Mount Vinson in Antarctica, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Mount Carstenz Pyramid in Indonesia, Mount Everest in Nepal, Mount McKinley in USA and Mount Elbrus in Russia.

Serena Hotel CEO Aziz Boolani said “The ADG consisted of the Embassies of Argentina, Indonesia, Nepal, Russia, USA and the Serena Hotels. Each of the ambassadors provided logistical support and promotional assistance to the siblings during their visits.”

Samina Baig and Mirza Ali thank supporters, explain why such expeditions need to be promoted in the region

The ambassadors and representatives of each of the embassies praised the duo for the courage and perseverance.

They said that Samina and Baig were role models for the youth of Pakistan and lauded their efforts of promoting peace and unity around the globe.

Samina Baig said, “We are from Shimshal, a remote valley deep in Upper Hunza, near the border of China.

Our village has no electricity, no telephones, no internet but it does have equal opportunities for education for girls and boys. It is from my village and my family that I received the support to become the first female Pakistani mountaineering professional.”

She shared with the audience that her brother had started mountaineering at the age of 16 and would narrate tales of foreign expeditions consisting of men and women, who climbed the mountain ranges surrounding their village. She became fascinated with climbing at a young age and, along with her brother, began to climb for gender equality and women’s empowerment. She proudly stated, “I am the first Pakistani woman to hoist the green flag on the top of the world!”

Samina also acknowledged Mirza’s immense generosity of spirit in standing back and letting her finish the Everest climb alone. She said, “Women can do anything and they should be motivated and given equal opportunities.”

Mirza said, “We have been connecting people through mountains. The fact is that we do not want to convince people to climb mountains but what we want to show the youth is that everyone has their own Everest and they can climb it.”

He added that it took seven years for him to raise the resources to begin their adventure and that goes to show hat opportunities can be created with determination. “I travelled to 7 countries and landed in more than fifty airports with one t-shirt, which says ‘I Love Pakistan’,” he adds.

Acknowledging the primary financial support of people from New Zealand he said that Samina and he could not have begun their journey without that.

ADG also put up framed signed photographs of the expedition available for sale, the proceeds of which were to go, in entirety, to the IDPs in Waziristan.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2014