~The unusual spelling of my name only came later, when I started school in the DRC. President Mobutu Sese Seko had decreed that African children should not have European names, so when I was enrolled in Grade 1, my grandfather changed the H to a Y and Sarah became Saray. He insisted the meaning remained the same: mother of the nation.~

~When that American told me in wide-eyed delight about climbing [Kilimanjaro], I thought that this should be my story to tell, and one day it would be.~

~Looking at all those children, I hoped that in future a few of them would remember that day and think, 'Because of this woman dared to do what she did, I am where I am.' That they would pay if forward in some way to someone else, to the next generation.~

~I'd always had this image of how I'd feel when I summited. I thought I would be euphoric and imagined myself literally jumping for joy. But when I finally did it, I just sat down, exhausted. It was a deeply emotional experience, but not in the way I had pictured.~

~What was really astonishing to me, and quite delightful, was the pride that South Africans took in having a black South African woman reach the summit.~