Greg Mortenson went to Pakistan in 1993 to climb K2, the second highest mountain in the world. While mountaineering was his passion, Greg's purpose in climbing K2 was much deeper. His sister Christa had died the year before and he wanted to put a memento in her memory on the summit of the mountain to honour her.

He spent 78 days on the mountain but never made it to the summit. His sense of failure followed him off the mountain and down the massive Baltoro glacier as he made his way home. Over time he found himself in the most impoverished village he had ever been in: Korphe. As poor as the people were. they welcomed him with a hospitality he had never known before. While he spent time in Korphe he realized that there was no school – that the children went to school in an apricot orchard, sitting on the ground, doing their lessons with sticks in the dirt!

In an instant he understood that he could honor his sister more, by helping build a school for Korphe’s children than he ever could have if he had placed a memento of hers on the summit of K2. He returned home fueled by his fervent desire to help the children of Korphe and set about raising the money to build the school: He wrote 580 letters to famous people asking for their help, but no-one stepped forward to help build the school.

Dejected, Greg went home to visit his mom, Jerene. Jerene was the principal of Westside Elementary School in River Falls, Wisconsin. She consoled her son and encouraged him to continue, and she also asked him to talk to the students at Westside Elementary because she knew it was an opportunity for them to learn more about the wider world. Greg spent two days going to the classrooms and talking to the students at Westside. At the end of those two days a boy named Jeffery came to Greg and said "I have a piggy bank at home and I am going to help you build that school." Greg smiled and didn’t think about it anymore.

Six weeks later Jerene called and told Greg, "You really made an impression on the kids at Westside. They couldn’t believe there is a place where children don't have a school, and they want to help, so they used the only thing they have access to – pennies. And they raised 62,345 pennies! $623.45!" At the time it was the largest donation that Greg had received, and it wasn’t adults who had helped, it was students helping other students, half a world away!

This inspired Greg, as he realized youth were open to learning about the world and were committed to helping, and based on that experience Greg founded Pennies for Peace. Greg also deeply understood the value of education in the developing world. Research has shown that if you educate a girl in the developing world to a 5th grade level or higher, you do more for the sustainability of developmental solutions than anything else. It's called the Girl Effect and it’s powerful! Once a girl or boy has an education they can think critically and they have power over their lives. Education helps them understand the danger of extremist thinking, and the value of building their community in a peaceful and empowered way.

Since those early days, Pennies for Peace has grown into an award-winning youth service-learning program, in which tens of thousands of students around the world participate every year. The Pennies for Peace program has grown from a basic fundraising program to a program that now encompasses a K-12 curriculum with rubrics, assessment tools and activity reproduceables; videos; books; pictures; a Getting Started & Implementation Guide; a map; fact sheets; a book & movie reference list; and much, more. University students often take the template of the Pennies for Peace program and adapt it for their university setting. They often organize lectures and panel discussions using resources on their own campus. More can be found at www.penniesforpeace.org.

Youth around the world use Pennies for Peace to learn about their capacities as global change agents, and learn that they can improve the condition of the world around them, no matter how old they are, no matter what needs to be done. All they need is belief in themselves and a deep understanding of how to empower change in a situation.

Oh, and a few pennies help as well – they can move mountains!

Contributed by:

Christiane Leitinger
www.penniesforpeace.org