A Kenyan on top of the world. His name is James Kagambi, nickname “KG”. He is 62 years old. And he is now the first Kenyan to have climbed Everest, in the first team composed entirely of black climbers to successfully complete such an expedition. He was welcomed as a hero on Monday May 23 on his return to his country. James Kagambi pleads to democratize mountaineering and hopes that his achievement will inspire others.
” This is what drove me to participate in this expedition: to encourage people of color to dare to go mountaineering said James Kagambi.
” More than 4,000 people have already climbed Everest and among them, less than 10 were black before our ascent…Eight, I believe…We climbed to six…so that makes 14 black people now. So I wanted to show people that it’s possible “, he underlines.
” There are things you don’t do, not because you can’t, but because you don’t even know it’s an option. I wanted to demonstrate that it is not reserved only for certain categories of populations “, adds James Kagambi.
” And I’m not only talking to people of color, but also to people of modest origins. It’s a plea for diversity “, he concludes.
James Kagambi: “I wanted to demonstrate that it is not reserved only for certain categories of populations”