Who is Greg Mortenson?
Greg is a former mountain climber. In 1993 he attempted to climb K2, the world’s 2nd highest mountain, located in the Himalayas. Weak and ill after his failed attempt, he became separated from his party and was taken in by the villagers of Korphe. They nursed him back to health, giving him the best of their scant supplies of food. Greg learned more about how the people lived in the village, that they did not have enough to eat, that one in three children died before the age of one. He learned that the children who survived had no school and met on an open piece of land where a teacher came to them three days a week. He vowed to build them a school to express his gratitude for their care, not realizing it would become his life’s work. Now through his efforts, 78 schools have been built in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
