Hyderabad: It was a sense of accomplishment beyond words for Poorna as she conquered Mt. Vinson Massif, the Antarctica continent’s highest mountain peak (4,987 mts). 18 years-old Poorna becomes the first and youngest tribal woman in the world to set foot on the six tallest mountain peaks across six continents. So far, Poorna scaled Mt Everest (Asia, year 2014), Mt. Kilimanjaro (Africa, 2016), Mt. Elbrus (Europe, 2017), Mt. Aconcagua (South America, 2019) Mt. Cartsnez (Oceania region, 2019) and Mt. Vinson Massif (Antarctica, 2019). With her raw endurance and awe-inspiring missions, Poorna proved to the world that no mountain is too high for her. Poorna’s phenomenal journey from climbing small hills in her tribal village of Pakala to the tops of the world’s tallest mountain peaks began with the conquest of the Mt. Everest in the year 2014 and she never looked back since then. She broke negative stereotypes and proved to the world that marginalized girls can reach the highest peaks on earth, if opportunities are provided. The conquest of the formidable world’s tallest mountains by Poorna left an indelible impression on millions of marginalized children, particularly girls across the world.
The Poorna is very close to achieving her goal of scaling the seven tallest summits located in seven continents. Poorna is gearing up to scale Mt. Denali (North America’s highest mountain peak), the dream of every mountaineer in the world. Poorna thanked the Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and minister for welfare Koppula Eshwar for being the messiahs of poor children in the state. “I wouldn’t have achieved mountaineering feats, if not for the solid support of the chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao” said Poorna over satellite phone. Poorna thanked Secretary Dr RS Praveen Kumar and her coach Sekhar Babu Bachinepally of Transcend Adventures, Hyderabad, for their unwavering support and encouragement.
Dr Praveen Kumar, Secretary, TSWREIS, said, “Poorna’s expeditions will remain engraved in golden letters in the annals of the world’s mountaineering history”, Today, Poorna has become an accomplished world-class mountaineer and pride of Telangana and India”, thanks to the chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and welfare minister Koppula Eshwar “for extending a promising hand to children from the marginalized sections of the society under the KG-PG Mission, said Dr RS Praveen Kumar. the Poorna accomplished Mt. Vinson mission with the help of government of Telangana, Transcend Adventures and crowd funding. Poorna is currently, pursuing an undergraduate course at the Minnesota State University, USA., as a fellow of the Global Undergraduate Exchange Program, USA.
The Poorna’s parents work as agricultural labourers in a remote Pakala tribal hamlet of Nizamabad (district) in Telangana. The sweeping and path-breaking innovative initiatives introduced by secretary Dr RS Praveen Kumar, Secretary, had a telling effect on Poorna’s and as well as thousands of poor children’s career. The new wave of path-breaking curricular and extra-curricular activities beyond the confines of classrooms and summer samurai camps initiated by Dr RS Praveen Kumar, played an indispensable role in tapping the inherent potential of poor children.
