Village Soup (
Author mightily inspires Toddy Pond students
By Emma Herring, Gately Conley, Maddison Raynor, Liddy Clapp
Toddy Pond students
Emma, Gately, Maddison
and Liddy knew the car ride would be long, but they
were prepared. The four girls and their teacher, Jon Wescott,
drove from Swanville to
"The car ride was really long, but I was still very
excited," says Emma, 9. Indeed, she should have been excited. After these
four girls from
In 1993, climber Greg Mortenson was trying to scale the
enormous mountain
He made a commitment, promising the chief of Korphe that he would build the children a school. It didn’t
matter to Mortenson that he was so broke he had to live out of his car when he
got back; he was determined to build a school for the children of Korphe.
And it didn’t matter how long it took.
Mortenson not only succeeded with the school in Korphe, he has built 63 other schools over the years in
He recently co-authored the New York Times bestseller,
"Three Cups of Tea," and founded the Central Asia Institute. He has
become a well-loved figure all over the world.
Now living in
"It was like meeting a superhero," says Liddy, 12. "I was nervous, but really thrilled."
After listening to him talk, the girls were more excited
than ever.
Mortenson inspired them, and soon Wescott
and the four girls decided they, too, wanted to raise money to help the
children in
When the talk was over, they asked Mortenson what he thought
of their idea of raising money to help. He responded positively, gave the girls
his e-mail address and wished them luck.
On the car ride back home, they discussed how much money
they ought to raise.
"Maybe $500?" Maddison and Gately first
suggested, then, "$1,000?"
At that point Wescott asked them,
“What would Greg try to do?”
Emma suggested $20,000 would build a school and keep it
running for a generation. The girls needed no further persuasion: $20,000
became their goal.
They have begun discussing ideas for fund-raisers. The girls
are excited to help the children in
"Even if we don't reach our goal, we will know we have
tried," said Wescott.
"The key is: Think like Greg," says Gately, 14.
To learn more or to help the school reach its goal of
raising $20,000 for the Central Asia Institute, please write to
More on Mortenson’s work is at www.threecupsoftea.com
http://waldo.villagesoup.com/Education/story.cfm?storyID=103504