Footsteps | Page 3

The Korphe school sits on donated land above the Braldu River mud as the heavy rains and jeep tires churn the dirt. In the winter, the road is buried in snow and ice making it all but impassable. More than two decades ago, Greg Mortenson traversed the rough terrain and fell in love with the Shangri-La-esque town nestled precariously between the craggy peaks. At the time Mortenson was simply a nurse with a fully developed sense of adventure. But his encounter with the town’s 82 children “kneeling on the frosty ground, in the open,” scratching their lessons in the dirt would change the course of his life forever. He decided to build a school. Although he faced many challenges, several years later Mortenson completed the project. For the first time ever, Korphe’s children had a school. CentralAsiaInstitute.org THE NEXT PHASE IN KORPHE EDUCATION Over the next few years the community flourished and enrollment at the new school grew by leaps and bounds. The student body eventually became so large that village elders asked for additional classrooms. The school had reached capacity, with close to 200 students from Korphe and the surrounding towns of Munjong, Teste, Askole, Sino, Tsurungo, and Tongol packed into the small structure. Even taking class in shifts, boys in the morning and girls in the afternoon, was not enough. Consequently, last spring CAI set out to raise funds for an expansion. Thanks to your generous contributions we were able to build an extension – four new classrooms, an office for teachers, a boundary wall, and a playground. | 3