English version

Greg Mortenson: the strenght of education against terrorism

Korphe is a small village on the wild hills of Pakistan that lead to the K2 peak. Here a community of balti of islamic religion lives isolated from the world. It was more isolated some years ago when its inhabitants were phisically separeted from the rest of the nation by a restless river which they could cross only with a good amount of boldness and fatalism inside a basket that travelled suspended in mid-air. Nowadays it's not this way anymore. In the mid 90's, before the attack to the Twin Towers in New York, before that the fear for islamic terrorism made look at these places with prejudice, the Central Asia Institute, a non profit organization created to support people of this forgotten corner on the planet, built a bridge that is, alone, a symbol of continuity.

That was just the beginning. Even after the 9/11 the engagement went on. During almost two decades the organization wished by Greg Mortenson (in this picture he's among the students) built, one after another, 58 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan with the purpose of defeating terrorism through education. Mortenson, american from Bozeman, Montana, is a past climber who knew the Karakoram valley during a failed attempt to conquer the K2 peak and since then - we are in 1993 - devoted his life to this project. And at this experience is dedicated a book, Three cups of tea, written with the journalist David Oliver Relin and soon a bestseller all over the world.
But, in order to go on with this project, the Central Asia Institute needs new funds: on this website are avalilable the information on how to contribute to this singular war that fight against the strategy of terror with the school desks, books and education, instead of bombs and panzer.