Off To The South Pole: Polar Girl Dk Najibah Eradah PAM Al-Sufri.

Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei's "Polar Girl" is leaving the Sultanate today for the Kaspersky Lab Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition's final preparations and press conference to be held in the UK.

The Expedition will see women from eight Commonwealth countries Brunei Darussalam, Cyprus, Ghana, India, Jamaica, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom - brave blizzards, crevasses and temperatures below minus 40 degrees as they ski 900km over approximately 40 days to the Geographic South Pole.

Najibah Eradah Al-Sufri, 26, is Brunei's first woman who will participate in the Expedition and follow her dream to conquer the South Pole. The Expedition marks the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth. It also demonstrates the potential for greater international understanding and exchange, and highlighting the achievements of women across the world.

"I am so excited and a bit nervous to be leaving Brunei today for the greatest journey of my lifetime," remarked Najibah on her departure.

"I am truly honoured to be representing my country for this moment in history, and look forward to coming home and telling everyone all about it."

Najibah had, in fact, to overcome previously the biggest hurdle of financial limitation as the funds raised for the expedition was far from sufficient. The government budget was limited as there was no fund specifically set up for expeditions. She had to approach many other private organisations, but many to no avail as there was a conflict of interest since Kaspersky Lab wanted exclusivity as the expedition's main sponsor.

Her dilemma came to an end after BAG Networks agreed to be Najiba's umbrella sponsor for the Expedition. The Chief Executive Officer for BAG Networks Haslina Hj Md Taib, as Najibah's patron, believes that it is important to support Najibah as it is "important for women". "She is a reflection of how Bruneians can do things and it's not just her (who can achieve)," said Haslina.

Najibah is also grateful to other sponsors and individuals who donated to the Polar Girl Fund. Having contributed so much hard work, Najibah will be flying to Chile from London on November 4.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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written by AA , October 31, 2009

good luck :-D

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