The love, curiosity and admiration that Uta received from children who heard about her expeditions, and their very profound questions on her activities made her recall everything she did and delve into retrospective to find the source of her inspiration since childhood. After discussing with her friend Vigan Hoxha, about how much she had reflected and had come to new realizations through interactions with children, they both came up with the idea of creating a book about her experience climbing the highest peak of the world- Mount Everest.
Children helped Uta complete her story and the outcome was so fulfilling that she decided to share it with all the children.
Thus Utalaya Foundation started 2020 with projects targeting children. On International Book Day she published “Uta and the Mountains” children’s book and the feedback was amazing.
Uta received many heartwarming messages and drawings of kids who were inspired by her story and want to follow her footsteps.
The book is written by the author Tefta Kelmendi and the lovely illustrations are the work of the macedonian illustrator Katerina Nikolovska. The realization of this project has been made possible as a result of Utalaya foundation’s cooperation with UN agencies in Kosovo (UNWOMEN, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and other entities of the UN Kosovo Team (UNKT), Municipality of Prishtina, Ministry of Culture,Youth and Sports, Studio Permanent and Vi-Print.
The book is available on English and Albanian at Dukagjini Bookstore or Online at Gjirafa Mall (https://gjirafamall.com/