One School at a Time

Greg Mortenson is an adventurer who once loved to climb mountains. Born in 1957, he grew up on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa. After his sister Christa died in 1992, he decided to try climbing Pakistan’s K2, the second-highest mountain in the world, in her memory. Although Mt. Everest in the Himalaya Mountains is higher, K2 is considered more difficult and treacherous to climb. During an attempt to climb the mountain in 1993, snow, ice, and bad weather forced Mortenson to turn back.

Mortenson recovered from frostbite and exhaustion in the rural Pakistani village of Korphe. There he saw a group of children writing in the dirt with sticks. He learned that they had no pens or pencils, no books—not even a school or teacher. Mortenson promised to build them a school, even though he had no idea how he would accomplish it.

It took years to raise the money to build the school. Some of the contributions to Mortenson’s cause came as pennies donated by American schoolchildren. Mortenson even sold his own belongings to raise cash. The Korphe School was finished in 1996.

Since then, Mortenson has established more than 75 schools in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. His schools educate both boys and girls in an area where schooling for girls is very rare. Mortenson’s aim is to use education to promote peace in this often dangerous and violent area, one school at a time.

  1. How does Greg Mortenson’s attempt to climb the mountain contribute to the plot of the story?
  1. His attempt to climb the mountain shows how much he cared for his sister.
  2. Through his attempt to climb the mountain, Mortenson noticed that children were writing with sticks in the dirt and wanted to give them a proper education.
  3. His attempt to climb Pakistan’s K2 proved that he was not physically capable of reaching the top.
  4. Through his attempt to climb the mountain, Mortenson suffered from frostbite and exhaustion and so he decided to build schools in memory of his sister.
  1. In paragraph 4, the author describes the setting for most of the schools that he built in detail. Why is the paragraph important to the story?
  1. The schools give a sense of hope for the children in these areas.
  2. The areas where most of the schools were built look negatively upon girls being educated.
  3. The schools bring everyone together for the purpose of educating the future of the people in these areas.
  4. Mortenson chose to build schoold in areas that were dangerous and violent.
  1. How did the village of Korpe change Mortenson’s life?
  1. It inspired him to become a teacher.
  2. It motivated him to climb mountains.
  3. It inspired him to build schools.
  4. It motivated him to create a memorail for his sister.
  1. Which word best describes Mortenson’s behavior in paragraph 1?
  1. adventurous
  2. hopeful
  3. reckless
  4. fearful
  1. Mortenson’s actions in paragraphs 2 and 3 show which of the following character traits?
  1. stubborn and argumentative
  2. caring and determined
  3. clever and ambitious
  4. frustrated and angry
  1. How do you think Mortenson changed between 1993 and the time described at the end of the passage? How do you think the setting contributed to the change in his character?