Parents on Wasfia’s hard work
It is an outstanding and unbelievable achievement that came following her years of perseverance, said Nazmee J Chowdhury, father of Wasfia Nazreen.
“We think this is an award from the Almighty to Wasfia for her hard work, integrity, perseverance and fascination for adventures,” said Chowdhury in his instant reaction hours after Wasfia conquered the Everest.
Wasfia Nazreen scaled Mount Everest yesterday morning as the second Bangladeshi woman to do so — and that too in only a matter of days.
Expressing their anxiety over the risk to life for Wasfia, he said, ‘We could neither sleep nor concentrate on any work in the last four days as we talked with her on Tuesday. We passed every moment under tremendous mental pressure.”
“This is the message for every woman — they are not lagging behind and they can do everything if they have determination and courage,” said Maliha Hossain Chowdhury, Wasfia’s mother.
“She [Wasfia] always wants to do something for the betterment of women and to make them fit for resisting oppression against them,” said Maliha, a former teacher of North South University.
Wasfia, born in 1982, has had a fascination for adventures and mountaineering since her childhood when she along with her family lived in a tea garden bungalow in Chittagong.
“She used to climb the nearby hills alone since her childhood. She has had the boldness since then and I have not seen her afraid,” said her father, an official of a multinational company.
She has experience of different adventures, such as scuba diving, operating boats through hilly rivers and climbing on high-rises.
Wasfia’s parents said they had extended maximum cooperation to her for her various adventurous activities.
“She is a free-minded girl. We have taught her to acquire social values and respect, but always encouraged her in adventurous activities,” added Maliha.
While studying in the US from 2002 to 2008, Wasfia got involved in different human rights activities. Protesting against the Iraq war, Wasfia would often hang banners from high-rises, which required rappelling, a technique of controlled descent using a rope.
Later she underwent training at different institutions in the US and Nepal, said Chowdhury.
Earlier on October 2, 2011, she became the first Bangladeshi woman to reach the highest peak of Africa — the Uhuru peak of Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, 5,895 metres above the sea level.
She reached the peak of Mount Aconcagua in Argentina on December 16, 2011. But she came back 300 metres away from the peak of Mount Elbrus in Russia on July 12.
Wasfia is the second child of Chowdhury and Maliha. Her elder brother Sarwar Najam Chowdhury is a service holder, while younger brother Waker Chowdhury is a student at an English medium school.
-With The Daily Star input
