Polar Girl makes it a mission to help youths

THE first Bruneian to travel 900km to Antarctica now sees things with different eyes and has found her mission in life — helping youths.

"It wasn't so clear before when I thought about what area I could contribute in order to make a difference. I think I can see it now by helping out the youth," Polar Girl Najibah Eradah PAM Al-Sufri told The Brunei Times.

Being the first Bruneian woman to ski to the South Pole, Era said that her message to the youth was that her achievement could be achieved by anybody.

"The general idea is that women are of the weaker sex, but I'm a woman and I did it, so the message here is that anyone can do it too," Era said.

She added: "I don't know how the youth sees this, but I am an ordinary girl. I don't do these expeditions or ski everyday. You can really dream and do what you want to do."

She said that she will be conducting talks in schools to inspire and motivate youths to chase after their dreams. "These talks will focus on the youth setting their aims towards something that they wanted to do. I don't know, but maybe youths here aren't exposed to a lot of youthful activities, but it is hoped that through these talks, they will be open to new ideas and have the confidence to do new things."

Era said that plans in wanting to give back to the youth came when she heard about the Duke of Edinburgh Award (DofE), a United Kingdom Youth charity that offers the world's leading achievement award to young people. Founded in 1956, the DofE's Award has been dedicated to the personal development of young people from all backgrounds.

Era explained that the award would be based on the youth being active in community service, sports, skills such as involvement in co-curricular as well as outdoor activities such as camping.

"I was thinking the award should be similar to the DofE award but called the Brunei Adventure Recreation Association (Bara) award and specifically tailored for the Bruneian youths," she said.

"We can teach them how to plan for a camping trip, plan the routes, the clothings, how much food to take and so forth," she said.

Era added that Bruneian youths should be exposed to various activities, and that they should be able to fill their time because boredom can generate a lot of mischiefs. With the award, her chance to make a difference will be worth it.

"These are my dreams for the youth in Brunei. I want to make this happen. I want to do this Bara award because I know it will definitely benefit the youth," she said.

She added: "Me being the first lady to the South Pole should be a race to the first. I want to encourage Bruneian women to do that."

Would she do it again? "Yeah, I would do it if I had the money. It's quite an experience. It wasn't just an experience where you wanted to go home all the time. I thought to myself 'I could do this twice a year'."

The Brunei Times