In one of life's strange twists of fate, a failed climber becomes a great humanitarian. Salma hasan ali tells the extraordinary story of greg mortenson and his passion to build schools in pakistan and afghanistan.
Nasreen sits on the floor of her two-room apartment in rawalpindi, pakistan, a patterned red shawl gently draped over her hair.
In 1993, experienced mountaineer Greg Mortenson attempted to climb , the world's second highest mountain, in the Karakoram range of northern Pakistan-administered Kashmir, as a way of honoring the memory of his deceased sister, Christa. As a memorial, he had planned to lay her amber necklace on the summit of After more than 70 days on the mountain, Mortenson and three other climbers had their ascent interrupted by the need to complete a 75-hour life-saving rescue of a fifth climber. After getting lost during his descent, he became weak and exhausted, and by chance alone, instead of arriving in Askole, where his porters awaited, he came across Korphe, a small village built on a shelf jutting out from a canyon. He was greeted and taken in by the chief elder, Haji Ali of Korphe.
To repay the remote community for its hospitality, Mortenson promised to build a school for the village.[citation needed] After difficulties in raising capital, Mortenson was introduced to Jean Hoerni, a Silicon Valley pioneer who donated the money that Mortenson needed for his school. In the last months of Hoerni's life he co-founded the Central Asia Institute, endowing the CAI to build schools in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan.Mortenson faced many daunting challenges in his quest to raise funds for the building of more than 55 schools in Taliban territory. Some of these challenges included death threats from Islamic mullahs, long periods of separation from his family, and being kidnapped by Taliban sympathizers
Reflecting on the state of the post world, Mortenson advocates that extremism in the region can be deterred through collaborative efforts to alleviate poverty and improve access to education, especially for girls. Formerly, schooling focused on the boys, but because educated boys tend to move to the cities to find jobs, they seldom return. By contrast, educated girls tend to remain in the community and pass their enhanced knowledge to the next generation. Thus, Mortenson suggests, has more of a lasting benefit for their community.
The story has been adopted from emel magazine.
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