My Name is Amulya

My Name is Amulya

By Lily Charky

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I dedicate this story to my whole family who helped pull this together.

Maple Leaf Book Writing Project

Brattleboro, Vermont

Copyright 2016

My name is Amulya. I was born in 1968 in a small, poor village in the northeast of Nepal. I lived with my mother. My father left us when I was three to be with a wealthy woman in England. Mother told me wealthy people get more than they deserve, including my father. This is my story of how I overcame the greatest challenge of my life.

As soon as I could walk, I climbed. I would climb the hills near my village and run down out of breath. When I got home I was always greeted by a bowl of steaming hot dal. When I turned seven my mother introduced the importance of school and we spent every penny we had for me to go to the small school in the center of town.

Mother believed in education for girls even when others didn't. Sometimes we would go without food so we could pay for me to go to school. Other times my mom would not be back from picking coffee till late into the night and I would go to bed without knowing when Mother would be home.

I was walking home from school one day and saw a finely dressed tourist walking past a poor child. He pushed her just for being a girl sitting in his way. Mother had always told me to feel lucky, because however hard your life may seem it can always get harder, and she told me never to be cruel. So I stooped down and gave the girl my hand and told her to come home with me and eat some hot dal. While we walked home I asked her if she knew the guy and she shook her head, “a man like him only needs to know two things, that I am poor and that I am a girl.”

When we got home I gave the girl my bowl of dal; I knew my stomach would make me pay for that later. Her name was Ishita. She lived with her parents who worked on a coffee plantation down the hill. Just as I loved to climb, she loved to draw and sketch. We made a plan to meet up again.

The next day I hiked the hills. It was a clear day. When I got to the top I could see Everest, the tallest mountain in the world peeking through the clouds, standing tall and proud. This mountain had stood by observing injustice for generations, not doing anything. That's when I knew I wanted to climb to the peak and look down on all the those people who looked down on women and the less fortunate. I ran down from the hills and found Mother at home cleaning. I flew in and in an excited voice told her of my plan.

”I want to climb Everest and accomplish something no woman has ever done before.”

“Ok, then do it,” she said as calmly as if she was discussing the weather. But that's how Mother always was; she was never impressed until you achieved the goal. This only made me that much more determined.

At school the next day my teacher asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up. When I told my class of my goal they teased me for being a girl and having such an ambitious dream that only men would be able to accomplish.

One boy raised his hand and said, ”Teacher I don't feel comfortable having a girl in our class that doesn't know her position as a girl of the lower class. Can you please remind her that her future only holds one thing, working in the coffee plantations?”

“Thank you for your input. I am sure she realizes that her dream is only a dream and nothing bigger. Right Amulya?” my teacher said in a cool voice. I felt numb as I said yes under my breath. “May we please proceed with class?” my teacher said in a voice that had an undertone of menace. We all nodded our heads in unison and proceeded with whatever we were doing, but I wasn't listening. I was thinking of how unjust the world was for girls like me.

Tears streamed down my face as I ran home. My dream was crushed by my teacher, a person who should have helped me to accomplish my goals. Mother told me to never let the mean things people do hurt, but this hurt. I looked around and saw my small one room house, the hole for a bathroom in the corner and my one set of moth eaten clothes.

We couldn’t even afford good clothes and certainly not what I needed to climb Everest. I thought I would end up with nothing, another girl working the fields for little or no money. I felt hopeless and lost. I had nothing.

When Mother came home I was still upset. She came and sat next to me and pulled me close to her.

“Oh Mother I have no hope to climb Everest; I have no hope to accomplish anything beyond working in the coffee plantations.” I said through choked sobs.

“Sweetheart, if you believe that, then you will get nowhere. But I think you are so much more than that. So if you want to climb Everest then you go do it” she said firmly with a wise smile.

“I love you Mother” I said and fell asleep.

I woke in the morning determined again to climb Everest and not be fazed by what people said. But if I wanted to climb Everest I needed a ton of money, which means I needed to make money and there was only one place a girl like me could make money.

“Mother, I need to quit school to work in the coffee plantations so I can pay for the expenses of climbing Everest.” She pursed her lips, took a deep breath and said “I am not happy with you quitting school but if you promise to complete this goal of yours and try not to let people who judge you get the best of you, then yes you can quit school.”

“Thank you Mother.”“Just don’t let me regret it.” I gave her a hug and we left hand in hand to work in the fields.

I wiped furiously with the back of my hand the beads of dirty sweat on my tired face. I had been here since dawn and the sun and hard labor cracked my skin wide open leaving my hands swollen with bleeding blisters. I hacked at the uneven ground over and over trying desperately to make a flat bed for coffee seeds to no avail.

My mother was a few acres away working on her own patch of ground and didn't see the burly man walking around and inspecting everyone's work stop right in front of me with a scowl on his face. She didn't hear the man yelling at me for being weak and not able to till a flat bed. But she did see the man slap me hard across the face when I tried to apologize and she let out a silent scream. My face reddened with anger as I got back to work slamming my shovel down harder and harder until the ground felt looser under my feet. By the time I left I had prepared two beds for planting and earned 5 rupees.

I fell asleep as soon as we got home. When I woke it was time to go to work again and spend another day enduring back breaking work. I persevered knowing this was helping me get stronger as well as paying for my gear.

Three years later I had finally made enough for all the climbing equipment. I started training every day. I carried old wooden planks up into the hills while carrying all my heavy equipment. In winter when the hills got slick and icy I climbed up with only an ice ax and crampons to practice before going up the real thing.

I was ready to climb Everest. On June 20, 1987, when I was 17, I started out early to climb the tallest mountain in the world. I bought myself a ticket on a bus that made a daily commute to the base camp. It was a rocky ride with a ton of people all squished into one little bus with no seats and no doors. We were going really fast. When we reached the entrance to the base of Everest, everyone stampeded off at once. I grabbed my equipment and headed to the climbers check in to get my climbing permit.

The sign on the little wooden shack said Climbers check in in big red letters across the front. Smaller letters read All climbers must check in before climbing or face prosecution. I waited my turn in line behind a man with a bushy mustache and a big pointy nose.

“What are you doing here?” the man said as he turned around to face me. “This is for mountain climbers only. You're just a little beggar girl from the hill villages down the mountain. Those places are filthy, full of bugs and other beggars like you!”

I smiled coldly at him and as calmly as I could muster I said, ”You're right. I am just a girl from a hill village, but I plan on climbing this mountain just as well as any man.”

Everyone else in the line was staring at me but I didn't care. I was going to get the permit and leave. When it was my turn to claim a license I stepped up to the man behind the desk. He was an old man with spectacles and curly white hair. When he saw me he took one look at me and shook his head.

“No climbing for you, missy. You’re a girl and this is men’s work. Run back home to your mommy. You can't have the permit and that's final!”

“You can't do this” I half sobbed half shouted.

“I just did. Now SCRAM! You're just wasting time,” he said. I felt numb as I walked away from my dreams and everything I had worked for.

While I waited for the bus to take me back down to my village, I remembered the promise I had made to my mother, to complete this goal of mine and try not to let people who judge me get the best of me. I couldn't give up yet. So by the time the bus had arrived I was ready to climb Everest. I stepped up onto the bus with a spring to my foot. This was just another challenge to overcome. When the bus finally came to a stop I ran all the way home. Breathlessly I told Mother what happened and all she did was smile.

“There would be no goal to reach without a few obstacles in the way. I'm just glad that you aren't going to get discouraged,” she said.

The next morning I decided that I would climb up into the hills and spend the day there just relaxing. At the top of the hill I saw a girl sketching. And not any old girl but Ishita. I ran over with a shout of glee.

“Hi Ishita. How have you been? What have you been doing these past months?”

“Well to start aren't you supposed to be on Everest?” she said. I told her what had happened.

“I'm so sorry. That's horrible,” she replied.

“Yeah but it's okay. I'll still climb Everest no matter what. Anyway back to you. What have you been doing?” I asked.

“Actually when you told me you wanted to climb Everest you inspired me to want help climbers in a way that interested me. So I did some research and found out that making diagrams of Everest for climbers was my calling. Since I love sketching I have a lot of fun. I also make souvenir pictures of the mountain and stuff like that to sell to foreigners,” she said proudly.

“That's great. You really found something you love to do. Do you make things like maps?”

“Yes. I also chart different paths climbers should take depending on their skill level. I love what I'm doing and I won't ever have to work in the coffee plantations! Hey, you know what? If you want I could make you a map of Everest. It would really help your climb.”

“It would help if I was actually permitted to climb the mountain,” I said.

“I can show you a route that I learned from an old sherpa that few climbers use anymore. But it's dangerous, really dangerous. Do you think you're up for it?” Ishita said.

“I know I can do it. Please show me this way.”

“Ok but you have to promise me you won’t get hurt and it will take me a little while to prepare a map for you.”

“Thank you so much Ishita. It means the world and don't worry about it, I’ll be fine,” I said.

“Alright. Well my parents are expecting me home so I had better go. See you later,” she said.

One and a half months later I was ready to climb. My stuff was packed and I waiting for Ishita to bring me the diagram. When Ishita knocked on my door and handed me the diagram I thanked her with a hug and gratefully told her that the diagram would be the reason I could climb the mountain.

I planned on taking the bus again up the mountain but instead of getting off at the official entrance, I would get off on the other side of the mountain, where there was not an official stop or entrance. The bus wasn't as crowded this time and I was able to easily see when I wanted to get off. When I told the bus driver to stop the bus screeched to a halt and I got off ready to begin the adventure I had been preparing for all my life.

“There's no turning back now Amulya,” I told myself, and looked up at Everest rising up above the clouds standing proud and tall. Ishita’s map indicated where I could easily make my own path where no one had recently climbed. The first step was to use my ice ax as a climbing tool to climb up a snowy wall that led to a small plateau. I put my crampons on the end of my boots and used the ice ax to chip out hand and foot holds. It was tedious work but I loved the excitement of it and soon got into a rhythm. Chip- grab-chip-step, chip-grab-chip-step. It was a long climb but when I reached the top it was all worth it. I shoveled out a little area for my tent and a small pit for a fire. I was so relieved that I could start a fire and boil water since I knew once I got higher up it might be more difficult. I had brought dried meat and some dal and six jugs of water. After I ate I went to sleep in my tent. The equipment I had was much higher quality than my everyday belongings and I was very comfortable.

The next day was an easier trek because I was climbing on snowy ridges instead of up a shear wall and it wasn't as technical. While I hiked I whistled to myself an old nursery rhyme from my village. I felt so at home on Everest climbing higher and higher. It felt great, exhilarating, freeing. I didn't even notice the sky turning dark until it was too late and winds were raging all around me. Once it began I felt like I was trudging through white glue and couldn't move fast enough. I was battling against the wind and snow and losing badly. I could only think of one thing left to do. Wait it out. I clipped myself to a nail and hammered it into the mountainside. I put up my jacket hood, goggles and hunched over.

At some point I must have dozed off because when I awoke, the mountain had a new blanket of snow. I unclipped myself and started to climb again, this time a little slower. When I wasn't worried anymore about the storm I went a little faster until I was back at my normal pace. Hours passed until I reached a flat place to make camp. I spent the next day here as well because I needed time to acclimatize. I stayed warm inside my tent and spent the day reading and sleeping.

I could tell I was reaching the top because the air was thinning rapidly and the temperature was dropping. I felt like I was in a winter wonderland. I would pass the time counting the steps I took until I couldn't count anymore. Sometimes I would cling to walls while climbing over dangerously deep crevices, but I loved every moment of it, even when I was in danger. I always felt at ease up on the mountain.

I wasn't able to boil water because I was too high up. I had to eat dried food for dinner. In my tent that night I came to the conclusion that I would summit in the next two days, after I had time to acclimatize.

The next morning I woke up to the sound of a thousand galloping horses thundering down the mountain. It was an avalanche heading straight for my tent! I knew I would be buried and I got ready for a day in my tent. When I couldn't hear the sound of falling snow anymore I unzipped my tent but there was too much snow in my way. I had to dig myself out with my shovel and it was long hard work. When I was done I packed up my stuff and prepared to summit. It felt like I was carrying Everest on my shoulders.

I set out on the hardest part yet, the steep climb up icy ledges in thin altitude levels. I had to do the same activity I did the first day. This time I had a lot less oxygen. My rhythm today was also a little different. It went like this: Chip-grab-gasp, chip-step-gasp, chip-gasp-grab-gasp, chip -gasp-step-gasp. I was very tired when I reached the top of the ledges but I could see the summit, which gave me new energy. Now I just had to climb a little bit more, but the lack of oxygen made every step forward difficult. Ten more steps I said to myself then you will have done it! Five more. Two more. One more. Then my feet touched the top.

I had done it! I was there on the top of the mountain, above the clouds. It felt like I could see the whole world at my feet. No one could tell me women couldn't do the same things as men. I was so wrapped up in my excitement I didn't even notice the man behind me. Since this was the very tip top, all the paths led up to it. This meant everyone who reached the summit came here.

“You want to climb down with me?” he shouted trying to be heard above the wind.

“Okay” I say a little surprised by the the question.

The descent flew by in a flourish of snow and ice. All the while I kept my identity a secret, which was pretty easy considering that I was wearing all my climbing gear. When we got to the second camp I told him my name and that I was a girl. He paused for a minute obviously surprised.

Then he smiled and said, “I work for the McKinley State Park in Alaska and would love to offer you a job. Seeing that you’re such a serious mountain climber and that the government wants to help make girls more involved in climbing, you would be a great fit.”

“I’ll think about.”

“Great! My flight leaves in two weeks. You either come or you don't.”

When I finally stepped off the mountain and onto the bus, the realization hit me full force that I had just climbed Everest! When I ran through the front door Mother looked up with a smile on her face and arms wide open. She whispered in my ear how proud of me she was. Then I told her about what the man had said. She took a deep sigh and told me she thought I should do it because it was an opportunity of a lifetime and I might not get another chance.

Now I am 48, I live in Alaska near McKinley, officially called Denali since 2015. As well as climbing every day in the national park, I take people on tours and give inspirational speeches to girl climbers.

Mother died in 2002 and I still feel her loss. But for the most part my life is pretty good. I am married with two kids, a boy named Sam and a girl named Alice. I went back to college and got a masters degree in Environmental Science. Ishita is good too, she now does mapping all around the world and travels a lot. Every once in awhile she stops by to say hi after one of her many trips. I don't think I would be the same person if I hadn't grown up the way I had. Even though I have had many challenges in my life, I would never trade any of them in. They have made me who I am; Amulya the first sherpa girl to climb Everest.

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Works Cited

Gebauer, R. (2016 February 20) Personal Interview

I shared my story with Dr. Renate Gebauer, Professor of Environmental Studies at Keene State College. She provided some valuable information about life in Nepal from her personal experience. She also offered me some of her original photos to use as illustrations. I have included two of Dr. Gebauer’ photos, Family run coffee farm and Poor rural school.