Greg Mortenson

Greg Mortenson (Google.com)

Greg Mortenson was born on January 1st, 1957, in Minnesota. Greg grew up in Tanzania with his family. His father had a teaching hospital. His mother founded the International School, Moshi. He had one sister and no other siblings. This means that he doesn’t mind kids.

Greg has grown into a father and now has a daughter named Amira Mortenson. He and his wife Tara Bishop have 2 kids, a girls and boy. Amira was blessed with a beautiful singing voice at a young age. Their son is still only a young baby and can barely speak a single word. His wife is a stay at home mom to watch their youngest son while Amira goes to school.

Greg Mortenson is famous for attempting to climb K2 (the second highest mountain in the world) in 1993 and building a school for the small village of Korphe in Pakistan. The reason he did not complete his climb on K2 is because he was ill. He was climbing to the top to place his sister’s necklace there in memory. But Greg did build the school for Korphe as he promised.

Greg Mortenson was known as family to Korphe because he kept his promise after leaving the country and coming back to build the school. They showed this by giving him his second cup of tea. He got the first by just being there with them and caring. This was a tradition in Korphe. The tea was made of yogurt and a flat bread called Chapatti. He said that it taste like fish eggs and was not good at all, but was better than nothing.

Greg also made sure that in the school that he had built, girls could go there and learn. At this time girls did not go to school but Greg wanted them to be educated just like the boys. He believed that when you educate a girl, you educate a village. He thought that everyone deserved a chance to learn.

Greg Mortenson was part of the New Friend New Life Organization. This Organization was to help Greg get money to help other countries to build schools. The Organization at first did not have very successful time but after a few months it really kicked off. Greg said, “The New Friend New Life Organization really helped him to build the schools. The Organizations motto is “I am someone’s daughter, sister, and mother. I am someone.”

Greg Mortenson is my hero because he helped so many kids get their education, a teacher, and a place to learn. I know that if I were a kid in Korphe and did not have a place to learn, I would have been very happy with him. He changed so many kids’ lives because they had a nice warm building to have a class and someone to stand there everyday and teach them.