A YouTube interview/talk by Vishen Lakhiani profiling Maria, a former Emirates stewardess who rose from extreme poverty to become an endurance athlete and break multiple Guinness World Records to raise funds and education for children in Dhaka slums. Maria pledged to support 600 children, began with 39, and over years expanded that support; she has skied the South Pole, climbed Everest, run ultra-marathons, and reportedly holds 10 Guinness endurance records. The video culminates with testimonials from beneficiaries (30 children invited onstage in Dubai) and highlights Maria's motivation: honoring a promise to single mothers and impoverished children.
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Many of you have heard of David Goggins, often called the toughest man alive. But what if I said that this woman, a former stewardess on Emirates Airlines, is tougher than David Goggins and has proven that her body can do things far more intense than Goggins? You ready for this? I don't think you are. This story is going to blow your mind. This 5 foot 540 year old woman has broken 10 Guinness weight world records of human endurance.
How far would you go to honor a promise? A promise made to a stranger?
She did it all because she wanted to provide for 600 kids in the slums of Bangladesh.
I made a promise to single mothers and impoverished children that I was going to take them out of poverty. I will go and break in a small record, get the money to put the kids through education.
She's not doing it for fame or recognition. She has skied the South Pole, climbed Mount Everest, even broken Guinness world records by running ultra marathons. She has broken 10 Guinness records, including the most consecutive days running ultra marathon, the fastest time to complete an Ironman triathlon on six continents by a female. Maria started out her life as a toilet cleaner. She was born in absolute poverty. Her birth mother abandoned her and she was raised by a poor refugee woman. As one of seven children raised in poverty now, Maria climbed out of that. She eventually became a stewardess in Emirates Airlines. And one day when her plane had landed in Dhaka, Bangladesh, she decided to walk outside and explore the city, only to be stunned by what she saw. You see, Dhaka is a city with 50,000 slums and millions of people live in abject poverty.
I always thought I had grown in a very humble background, but I didn't know what was poverty until I was in a slums of bank. Most people, when they go to third world countries, all they see is poverty. All I could see was so much potential going to waste. So what did I do? I met 101 families and I promised 600 children I was going to take them out of poverty. I started with 39 kids. 98, 200, 600. I'm going to be honest, I had no idea how to help them. But if Christina, a poor refugee woman from Angola, she could take care of me, I could take care of these kids in Bangladesh.
This woman seems to be defying the laws of biology because who would think that a woman with no experience in athletics could do all of this. She's just a woman who wants to fund the education of these slum children.
Someone told me, maria, if you want to raise that amount of money, you have to do something worldwide. So I started to run marathons and breaking all records.
When we put Maria on stage at our event in Dubai, there was not a dry eye in the room.
I never did sports in my life. I didn't know what I was getting myself into it. And the only sport I was doing up to that point was walking from the galley to the cabin to serve you. Would you like tea or do you like coffee? Hardly an athlete, but I thought an athlete is not an athlete. When he was born. I will transform myself into an athlete. People, they often ask me, Maria, what was the hardest thing you ever did in your life? Was it the North Pole? Was it freaking called the English Channel? Was it the South Pole? Was it the Ironman? What was it? The hardest thing I ever done in my life was to honor a promise I've made in 2005-101 single moms living in the slums of Bangladesh.
There on that stage in dubai, she invited 30 kids to join her. These were 30 out of the 600 kids she's supporting. And this is what they said about her.
My name is Chadni, 16 years old, from Bangladesh. Today I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Maria, our mom. I would have been married and be a mother of honor to kids like my mother and grandmother. But I'm here today going to school and in future I will be a doctor. Today my sister is in university in Europe and my mother is here. And my sister is here for me and for all of us. She is a fighter who fought for last 18 years to bring us this far in life. And we will make her proud. And all of you, thank you so much, everyone.
It was the words of this little girl that caused me to break down on stage. So if you ever think your goals are impossible, if you ever think that the world is an ugly place where nobody gives a damn, remember the story of Maria. We don't know what we are capable of until we decide to pursue something bigger than ourselves. And that's when all sorts of incredible things open up to us.
