Haji Ali was a village elder in the desolate wilderness of northern Pakistan whose compassion, wisdom and foresight transformed the lives of his own followers and of thousands of others managing just a bare existence in rugged hills and a merciless climate.
In 1993 he encountered Greg Mortenson, an American climber who came within 2,000 feet of scaling K2, the world’s second highest mountain, but could go no farther. Forced to trek down the 39-mile Baltoro Glacier to get to his base, Mortenson lost track and faced death from starvation and exposure. Staggering into the tiny Korphe village, he was discovered by Haji Ali’s people who nursed him back to health, an encounter that changed his life and theirs.
Mortenson learned that the villagers led simple lives but looked after their elderly, trusted each other, were compassionate and loyal, and shared what they had with each other. The area was so inaccessible that it received no government services, one in every third child perished before reaching the age of one and their lives centered around the challenge of mere survival.
Haji Ali saw education as the villagers’ only hope for a better life sometime. Mortenson once saw 82 children sitting in the open, without a teacher, writing lessons with sticks in the dirt.
Mortenson switched his passion in life from conquering the highest mountains to imparting education to these boys and girls living on the fringes of civilization so that, perhaps, their situation could improve.
He promised Haji Ali that he’d try to get them money and material to build a school at an altitude of 10,400 feet in an area that had no electricity or plumbing. Mortenson’s life, from that moment, revolved around efforts to seek donations from private Americans for the school.
Fate, however, has a way of foiling man’s goals and sometimes improving them. In a year Mortenson raised $12,000. He returned to Pakistan and got the material ferried across the Karakoram — only to discover that the material could not reach the village unless a 282-foot-long suspension bridge was built over the Braldu River. That reinforced Mortenson’s decision to do whatever was necessary to help. He returned to the US to collect the money, and expertise, to get the bridge built.
By 1996 both the bridge and the school had been built, with Haji Ali’s villagers supplying the labor and the land, and Mortenson providing the funds and technical know-how. The bridge linked Korphe to the world; the school provided it with hope. Mortenson, however, didn’t feel that he had repaid the Korphe villagers enough for saving him. His life would now revolve around trying to help build schools for girls and boys in the most inaccessible regions.
In between trips between Pakistan and the US, Mortenson wrote to Americans, spoke at schools, clubs and other institutions and peddled his message — building schools in remote areas was not only noble but would ensure that these citizens become productive instead of turning to violence.
Mortenson told his story in a book “Three Cups of Tea.” The title was based on a Balti saying that you share the first cup of tea with a stranger, the second cup together makes him a friend and the third cup brings him into your family “and for our families we are willing to do anything, even die.”
“Three Cups of Tea” became hugely successful, a best seller. That, and Mortenson’s speaking engagements, brought him funds for schools. Mortenson formed the Central Asia Institute to build and manage the schools. As villagers in remote parts of Pakistan, and Afghanistan, heard that an American had helped build a school Mortenson was besieged with requests from other villagers to help build schools for their people too. Fourteen riders rode for six days through the High Pamir without stopping to reach Mortenson on one of his trips north and to request him to build a school for the Kirghiz as well. In some schools he also built training centers to supplement women’s meager income.
“Three Cups of Tea” narrated the beginning of the saga. “Stones Into Schools,” which Mortenson wrote in 2009, details his ongoing work and efforts to help the earthquake victims of Azad Kashmir, and his extending his projects into the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan that is so cut off that it gets no government services.
Both books vividly describe the lives, struggles and values of simple but sturdy villagers. They are a reminder of Islam’s emphasis on seeking knowledge. But they also show what just one man can do to help others. Mortenson is a Christian. But he respects his hosts, listens to them and follows their advice, he prayed with them, lived with them, ate what they ate, went on perilous trips with them and earned their total trust. He was kidnapped, his life was threatened and he faced illness, heartbreaks and formidable obstacles. But he did not waver in his commitment to the villagers and he kept enlarging his commitments. The villagers have embraced him as a family member. The Pakistan government has bestowed on him a high honor. A legion of Americans of all ages and backgrounds has joined him to help in his cause.
There is much philanthropy that is being done throughout the Muslim countries. Helping others and seeking knowledge are basic tenets of our faith. Mortenson reminds us that human beings are one family and that by helping other we fulfill a basic purpose of our existence. He came to Toronto to speak and autographed my nephew Yawar’s copy. He wrote: “Yawar Sahib — Allah’s blessings of peace.” May Allah bless Mortenson also and his family and those who are helping him in his beautiful endeavor.
by Greg Mortenson and journalist David Oliver Relin
Published by Viking Hardcover, 2006
by Greg Mortenson
Published by Viking, Hardcover, 2009
