Journey of Hope 2017 journey-of-hope-2017 | Page 9

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n today’s globally connected world
it’s easy to feel powerless amid human
tragedies and natural disasters that
arise in every corner of the world. The
numbers are overwhelming — 781
million adults over the age of 15 are
illiterate; 65.6 million people in the world
have been displaced by conflict, poverty,
acts of nature, and instability; and 700 mil-
lion women alive today were child brides.
How can one person create a dent in these
unfathomable numbers?
The answer: never underestimate the
extraordinary power of one.
Greg Mortenson co-founded Central Asia
Institute on this idea: when you educate a
girl, you change the world. At first it was one
girl, one village, and one school that drove
his inspiration. Now, over twenty years lat-
er, CAI has established almost 200 schools
that have changed the lives of hundreds of
thousands of people.
This success hinges on one person decid-
ing to take action or take a stand, and then
another person, and another until a network
of thousands of people have come together
to support girls’ education. It also hinges on
one girl in a distant village who wants to go
to school, creates a path to education, and
lights the way for other girls to follow.
“There is nothing more powerful than
watching a timid little girl walk down the trail
to begin her education, and to know that she
may be the first literate girl in her community,”
FALL 2017
says Greg. “Later she will be the first high
school or college graduate, or nurse, teacher,
doctor, lawyer, engineer, accountant, or busi-
ness woman. Those first little boot prints in
the dusty trail of a mountain village began an
incredible journey for one brave girl, which
lit the way and inspired hundreds to follow.
Today, one of those girls from the remote
Wakhan Corridor, in Afghanistan recently
arrived in the U.S. to begin a master’s level
Fulbright scholarship. Just imagine!”
“Every person has the ability to make an
impact, whether you are a small schoolgirl
in Afghanistan, Pakistan, or a person in
the west who cares about education. No
one should ever underestimate their own
power,” he continues. “When education begins, people who
seek to control society by keeping people
illiterate, ignorant, and isolated lose their
power, and the light of education lights up
even the darkest room,” says Greg.
In Baltistan, one of the most remote
regions of Pakistan, the power of one person
is clear. Saima grew up in a conservative
village where education for girls didn’t
exist. From an early age she wanted to go to
school although no other girl in her village
had ever attended classes. Determined to
change that mindset, she became the first
girl to go to school in her village. By tapping
into her power, she paved the way for her
sisters and other young girls in the village
to go to school.
THE POWER OF ONE
IS GRASSROOTS THE POWER OF ONE D EVELOPS
SLOWLY
The power of one begins at the individual
level. It begins when a person changes his
or her mind frame from looking at the en-
tirety of the problem to focusing on the first
step. This power is activated when a person
says, “I can do this one act,” instead of asking
“What can I possibly do?”
This internal power is not handed down
from a government or organization, and
often it does not come with a road map for
success. The power of one is fighting for a
chance to do something new or forbidden
and making a path for others to follow. It
starts by building a foundation for change. “Americans have two minute football
drills, six second sound bites, and 30 minute
power lunches, but developing education
needs to be conceptualized by generations,”
says Greg. “The first generation will bring
a society up from illiteracy to literacy, one
person at a time. The second generation will
grow up literate with a desire for more.”
The power of one person takes time to bear
fruit, and the results are often cumulative.
It’s a slow and careful process, but this
kind of power builds sturdy and thoughtful
foundations for change. When power is
used to educate and enlighten rather than
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