There is no challenge that can prevent women from achieving dreams, Uta Ibrahimi tells her story

Kosovo has the youngest population in Europe. More than half of Kosovo's 1.8 million residents are under the age of 25 and almost half belong to female females.

Although the political world continues to remain dominated by men, Kosovo women -- young, talented and courageous -- continue to make Kosovo known to their amazing achievements, not political disputes.

Uta Ibrahim is one of these amazing women, who do not fear any challenge that comes his way. In 2017 she became the first female from Kosovo to ascend Everest, to the highest peak of the Earth globe. Since then it has been able to climb to four other peaks, which, like Everest, are over 8 thousand feet [8,000 m] above sea level, and are preparing to conquer the other nine peaks to complete its project to reach its 14 highest Himalayan peaks.

Her life is a very special story.

I worked at marketing for a total of 12 years, seven of which was the director of a marketing agency. In 2015, I had the strong feeling of following my dreams - doing what I liked more than anything else -” shows Uta, after deciding to leave his job and devote myself to mountaineering and tourism - to show the natural beauty of Kosovo* and the region as many people as possible.

I first dealt with some projects related to Via Dinarica, and in 2016, I created my adventure tourism agency, which I called “Butterly Outdoors”. I did ATTA training and now I lead climbing groups, yoga, cycling and mountaineering. ”

Uta tries to hire as many women as possible to work as a guide, while she herself devotes part of her time to children with special needs.

When I started to climb, I was told that this sport was for men, not women, so I worked hard not only to prove that this was not true, but also to change this kind of mind. You can do the same - listen to women! ”

Uta knows that the number of tourists in the Western Balkans region has increased by more than ten percent a year and that in 2018, 12 million tourists visited the region. Other data shows that tourism accounts for 25 percent of all exports from the region and almost a fifth of GDP, while 20 percent of Balkan employees work in the tourism field directly or indirectly.

Alpinism is my real passion. I used the Himalayas expeditions to promote Kosovo* and boost interest in the Balkans. That's what I did with the team of National Geographic and other mountaineers when we reached 7800 feet [7,800 m] south in Lhotse last year. That's what I'm going to do during the nine expeditions that I've got left with”.

Uta is one of the heroes of the Western Balkans, as is Nada Markovic and Aida Corbagic from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iris Djindovci from Albania.

“Campaign The regional Council for Co-operation (RCC) for Women's Strengthening will continue to bring the stories of the wonderful women of the Western Balkans, women who are the source of inspiration for others to reach their peaks in life.