Helena Independent
September
11, 2007
Author to share tales of
his work in
By MARGA LINCOLN - IR
Staff Writer
He
found, instead, that it led to building a school in the impoverished
But
that proved just the beginning.
He
has since built 60 more schools in isolated and often dangerous areas of
On
Wednesday, Mortenson will speak about his life and work at 7 p.m. at
The
talk will include some highlights from his book, “Three Cups of Tea,” a
fantastic, but true adventure story of how he came to build schools.
His
story starts with failure.
On
Sept. 2, 1993, Mortenson stumbled across a boulder-strewn, frozen landscape
after failing to reach the summit of K2, the world’s second-highest mountain in
the
He
wandered, emaciated and exhausted, into the remote
While
there, he met 84 village children who forever changed his life.
“It
was a cold October day,” he recalled in a recent phone interview from his home
in
The
students were huddled on the frosted ground, scratching their lessons into the
dirt with sticks.
Mortenson
was so moved by the children’s fierce desire to learn that he rashly promised
to build a school for the village.
“I
had no clue what I was doing,” he admitted.
When
he returned to the
He
got one response. Tom Brokaw mailed him $100.
He
also typed 16 grant applications. All failed.
Then
he sold his climbing gear and lived in his old Buick to save money.
Eventually,
he found the money, thanks to an eccentric donor and grade-school children who
collected 62,340 pennies to help him build the first school.
But
money was just one of the major obstacles Mortenson had to overcome. In true
hero fashion, he persevered. Eventually, he and the villagers built the school.
It
proved to be just the beginning of the tale. Soon, other villages wanted to
build schools for their children, too.
So
far, Mortenson and his organization, the Central Asia Institute, have built 52
schools in
They
fund close to 40 additional schools that operate in tents and refugee camps.
Currently
25,000 students are being educated in the schools, Mortenson said. Of these,
14,000 students are girls.
Educating
girls is at the heart of his efforts.
He
quotes an African proverb: “If you educate a boy, you educate an individual,
but if you educate a girl, you educate a community.”
The
proverb is bolstered by United Nations studies. They found that “if you educate
a girl to fifth-grade level, you will reduce the infant mortality rate, reduce
the population explosion and improve the quality of life and health itself,” he
said.
Mortenson
attracts unlikely allies in his efforts, including Islamic leaders, tribal
chiefs and military and warlord commanders.
Mortenson’s work has earned him national and
international awards, which he admits with a bit of embarrassment, are heaped
in a corner of his basement.
But
it’s not awards that drive Mortenson. It’s often what he sees in the eyes of
children, he said.
And
it’s the success stories.
One
of these is Aziza, the first girl to finish school in the Charpusan
Valley of Pakistan.
She
went on to study maternal health care. Since she returned to her village in 2000,
not a single woman has died in childbirth, he said.
Prior
to that five to 20 women in the valley died in childbirth each year, he said.
Another
is the story of Shakeela, the first educated girl in
the Hushe Valley of Pakistan. She will be the first
physician to come out of that region, Mortenson said.
Some
describe Mortenson as “ordinary,” others as “extraordinary.”
Mortenson
describes himself as a “quiet” and “shy” guy who is merely following his heart.
The
adventures along the way are riveting.
He’s
been kidnapped in
He
shared a Judith Campbell quote that he keeps taped to his bathroom mirror:
“When your heart speaks, take good notes.”
Presentation
times
Greg
Mortenson will give a free talk at 7 p.m. Wednesday at
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2007/09/11/helena/a010911_02.txt
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2007 Helena Independent. All Rights Reserved. Used With Permission.