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Apr 11, 2009

"I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep." --Robert Frost

Three Cups of Tea: A Mountaineer's Story

This story begins in 1993 when American Greg Mortenson set out to climb K2, the second-highest mountain in the world, on the northern border of Pakistan. But he didn't make it all the way. "I was completely exhausted and emaciated. I was kind of slumping off the mountain. I had to walk 58 miles to get to the nearest village." The villagers took him in and nursed him back to health. "They had very little but they gave me everything they had," Mortenson said. "And I was very touched by their hospitality." When he asked the children where their school was, he was shown a piece of flat ground. "I guess I had that kind of 'eureka' moment," Mortenson said. "I immediately, or in a rash moment, I said, 'I promise, when I come back I'll build you a school.' "And little did I know that'd change my life forever."