Poorna Malavath, the youngest woman to summit Mount Everest, and Kavya Manyapu, a NASA aerospace engineer, have embarked on Project Shakthi, an initiative to raise money for girls’ education by conquering challenging mountains. Their latest achievement involved the first-ever ascent of a 6,012-meter virgin peak in Ladakh, India, symbolizing the literal and metaphorical blazing of new trails for underprivileged girls.
Project Shakthi: Climbing for a Cause
Poorna Malavath, who at just 13 years old in 2014 became the youngest woman to summit Mount Everest, has partnered with Kavya Manyapu, a space scientist at NASA specializing in spacesuit design for lunar missions, on Project Shakthi. This campaign aims to empower, educate, and elevate girl children from underprivileged backgrounds in India by raising funds through mountaineering expeditions.
In late August, the duo, accompanied by a team, successfully climbed a previously unmapped and untouched 6,012-meter virgin peak in Ladakh, India. This presented immense challenges, even for experienced climbers like Malavath, due to the lack of existing trails, prior advice, and unpredictable weather conditions including snow at high altitudes. Every team member experienced some form of altitude sickness during the ascent. For Manyapu, a relatively inexperienced climber despite extensive training, the mental fortitude to persevere through uncertainties was crucial.
Personal Motivation and Broader Impact
The core motivation for Malavath and Manyapu during their most difficult moments on the climb was Project Shakthi’s tagline: “We climb so that girls can read.” For Manyapu, reflecting during the Covid-19 pandemic, her own childhood experience of moving from India to the US to fulfill her dreams inspired her to help girls who lack such support systems. As a mother, she feels a responsibility to “make the world at least one percent better” for her daughter’s generation.
Manyapu, originally from the same Indian village as Malavath, first met the mountaineer in 2019. Inspired by Malavath’s Everest story, Manyapu proposed taking their shared passion for climbing to “serve a purpose of empowering, educating and elevating underprivileged school children.” Malavath, who realized the extent of societal inequality during her subsequent climbs of the Seven Summits, is deeply moved by the struggles of girls in rural areas, citing a friend who was married at 14 while Malavath pursued her education.
Beyond fundraising, Project Shakthi aims to shift mindsets about women’s capabilities and provide role models. The project will partner with the US-based AVS Academy to offer one-on-one mentorship to sponsored girls. Both women believe that their combined story demonstrates “what a person can do, what a girl can do,” emphasizing the importance of representation to close the gender gap.
Globally, while girls’ school enrollment rates are almost equal to boys’, completion rates remain disparate, especially in low-income countries where only 36% of girls complete lower secondary school compared to 44% of boys, according to the World Bank.
Project Shakthi has already raised $12,000 and has begun selecting girls for sponsorship in their home village in India. The next phase involves climbing Mount Aconcagua (6,961 meters) in South America in December, with an invitation for others to join. The long-term goal is to sponsor girls globally, broadening their horizons and opportunities through education.
