Instrumental People

Though she was not a physical presence through Greg Mortensen’s journeys in Pakistan I believe his sister was the one person who was completely instrumental in his success. Without his desire to honor Christa’s life, he might have never stumbled in Korphe and found his life’s calling. Greg traveled to Pakistan as a way of celebrating his sister and paying reverence to her on the summit of K2. At the beginning of this trip he saw it as a failure, he didn’t make it to the summit and he had no idea where he was. He thought he failed his sister’s memory, little did he know that he would find a much better and fulfilling way of honoring his sister. He decided to dedicate his life to helping girls in the Middle East receive proper education. With his sister always in his mind, “ I felt like my heart was being torn out. There was a fierceness in their desire to learn, despite how mightily everything stacked against them, that reminded me of Christa” (Mortensen 32), he did everything in his power to help improve their lives.
I could have never prepared myself for the Global Beginnings program without the help of my mother. She has always been the most crucial person in my life. Mentally preparing myself for this semester abroad has been difficult to say the least. To be completely honest, I spent very little time thinking over the decision to spend this time in France. I heard about the opportunity and just jumped at the chance. It wasn’t until last week when I arrived on campus and spent my first extended period of time away from home did I realize how difficult this was going to be. Within the first forty-eight hours I missed my dog, the thought of being away from him for four months made me want to cry. If it wasn’t for my mother constantly reminding me of all amazing places that I will have the chance to go and all of the things I will have the chance to see I would be going out of my mind. My mother keeps me sane, without her who knows what my current mental state would be.


Mortensen, Greg and David Oliver Relin. Three Cups of Tea. London, England: Penguin Books, 2007.