Reese

= **Reese** =

=Chapters 1-6= "Former Taliban fighters renounced violence and the oppression of women after meting Mortenson and went to work with him peacefully building schools for girls." Pg. 3 "He helped Christa find work at manual labor, taught her the routes of the Twin Cities' public buses, so she could about freely, and, to their mother's mortification, discussed the particulars of birth control when he learned she was dating." Pg. 8 "...Hope of discovering a cure for Christa" Pg. 9 "They reminded me of the way Christa had to fight for the simplest things... He decided he wanted to do something for them." Pg. 31 "'...everything was stacked against them, that reminded me of Christa. I knew I had to do something.'" Pg. 32 "'I //will// build a school,' Mortenson said. 'I promise.'" Pg. 33 Greg Mortenson grew up taking care of his sister, Christa, who had trouble with everyday activities due to her epilepsy. On her twenty third birthday, she died. In order to honor her memory, Greg attempted to climb K2, one of the most dangerous mountains on earth, and leave her necklace at the summit. However, one of his fellow climbers was in danger and had to be brought down to safety. After an arduous climb down the mountain, Greg found himself too exhausted to climb back up and decided to put a rain-check on attempting the climb again. On the way back down the mountain however, Greg lost his way, twice. The result was that he ended up in the impoverished village of Korphe. After being treated to their amazing hospitality, Greg decided the best thing he could do to honor his sister's memory was to build these people a school. Greg traveled back to America and tried to raise money for the building of the school. While continuing to work as a nurse, he met and began dating a woman named Marina. After making enough money however, Greg went back to Pakistan to build the school. =Chapters 7-12= May 5th Chapters 7+8 The Islamic religion is a recurring theme in this book. The five daily prayers are a huge part of Muslim life. In becoming one of the Pakistani, Greg is learning how to pray and the customs of the people. When they were bargaining for wood, his accomplice accused the other man of being an infidel when he wouldn't lower the prices for someone who was working to help others.
 * Passage Master:**
 * Summary:**
 * Connector:**

May 6th Chapters 9+10 While Greg seems like a really amazing guy, these chapters sort of show how human he really is. He gets fired and loses his girlfriend and along with not being able to accomplish his goal As a result he sort of gives up, the man who was determined to work miracles and build a school in one of the poorest communities gave up. But he ends up working again when others give him courage and the funds to carry on.

May 10th Chapters 11+12 This is again just relating Greg to a real life guy. He falls in love with this woman and marries her. Greg is really a normal guy who has the willpower to help others. This is really just a normal guy who is changing the world because of what he does.

May 5th Chapters 7+8 Greg traveled with other Pakistani in order to get wood and tools for building the school. He also is becoming more involved in their culture, wearing their clothing and learning the traditions of their religion. It shows how the individual can affect history because many others might not have actually immersed themselves in the culture of the people they wanted to help. Greg is actually becoming one of them in order to help them and at the same time sort of allow them to help themselves.However Greg has found himself in another village wanting a school for themselves, I guess this will lead to Greg expanding his goals to building schools all through Pakistan and maybe other countries.
 * Summary:**

May 6th Chapters 9+10 After being told that a bridge would have to be built in order to move supplies over to the village, Greg traveled back to the US and found that Marina had left him for her old boyfriend. Dismayed by the breakup and the roadblock in his goal, Greg found himself at a loss of what to do. A friend called Greg and told him that he should call back the man who originally helped Greg financially. Greg got ten thousand dollars and went back to Pakistan in order to build the bridge. This was a bit different in how it showed the individual changing history. Really, Greg sort of gave up, but other individuals helped him get back on track. In a way these other individuals are making history, but then I guess it'd be more complicated than one person doing everything to change the world.

May 10th Chapters 11+12 Greg got more funding for his project in Korphe as well as being appointed Director of the CAI (Central Asia Institute) in which he would work to build a school every year. Greg also got to go see his hero, Edmund Hillary speak about his climb of Mt. Everest and his own school buildings and other humanitarian projects. While there though, Greg met Tara, whom he got along with very well. The two married after knowing each other for six days and then, after much delay, Greg left to go back to Korphe. Greg went back to Korphe and began his building of the school, working others hard in hopes to get the school up quickly. Haji Ali however, made Greg calm down and relax. By the end of the chapters, the school was nearly built. =Chapters 13-18= May 11th Chapters 13+14 Here is a map of where Wazir is in Pakistan. The Waziri are a tough people that have been able to hold out against foreign invaders. Now, Wazir is one of the areas in which the Taliban have dug themselves in. Jean Hoerni (The man who lent Greg much of his money and formed the CAI) was a member of the Traitorous Eight. A group of eight scientists who left Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory (a company that pioneered in making equipment with silicon) and went to form Fairchild Semiconductor. Jean continued to be a founder of companies which led him to the wealth he had by the time of the book.
 * Researcher:**

May 13th Chapters 15+16 http://www.ikat.org/ Yeah, sorta researched that in class yesterday but they have 12 members in the actual organization. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Supreme_Council_of_Iraq The Supreme Council that allowed Greg to build schools was in Iran, but I can't find any sites that really talk about the Iranian Supreme Council. Both Councils are of the Shi'ite sect of Islam.

May 14th Chapters 17-18 http://www.motherteresa.org/layout.html Mother Teresa was a Catholic nun who sought to help the poor. She made and inspired many charitable organizations that would seek to directly address the needs of the poor. She was one of Greg's heroes and helped inspire some of his work. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/kargil-99.htm Pakistan pushed its troops forward into India in order to gain a better control of the disputed Kashmir area. Indian soldiers fought back however and soon the borders of these two countries were a war zone. Villages unfortunate enough to be found on the border were bombed and approximately 40 civilians were killed. Those who survived were forced to hide in caves or seek refuge somewhere else. These refugees were the people Greg and his team helped by creating an up hill water system. May 11th Chapters 13+14 I wasn't entirely sure how or why, but Greg was kidnapped and held captive by a possible group of Taliban forces in Wazir. After eight days of being kept to a room without much information on why he was being held, Greg was released and given money for building his schools. Jean traveled back to America where his wife gave birth to Amira Eliana Mortenson. After finishing the school, Jean Hoerni, the man who had helped fund Greg and created the CAI, died. Jean was another example of how an individual can change history. Without Jean, Greg would not have been able to build the schools and the CAI would never have existed.
 * Summary:**

May 13th Chapters 15+16 Pretty much Greg and the rest of the CAI got past the fatwa and continued building schools at the permission of the Supreme Council. Because of this everyone began asking Greg to build schools in their towns. Greg also began building centers for women where they could sow and knit even during the harsh Balti winters. I'm not really sure with these chapters. The first one emphasizes how active Greg was in building schools, but the second one shows how huge of an influence the Supreme Council had over their productivity of building schools. I think this shows that while Greg is an individual who can accomplish great things, he needs resources and other people in order to complete these things. So in a way, history allows the individual to change the future.

May 14th Chapters 17-18 Greg found himself faced with more problems in these chapters. The CAI began running low on funds and while some people could spare some money for their cause, Greg thought he'd need another rich entrepreneur like Jean Hoerni to really back the organization. Unfortunately, everyone he really met were just interested in hanging out with him rather than actually giving him money. I was sort of confused because I didn't really think that he ended up getting enough money to help keep the company going, but they just sort of left it at that. He did however, end up traveling to Pakistan in order to help refugees and had a baby son. Honestly this chapter didn't really directly hit on the essential question as much as some of the other chapters, but again I think that technology and people who are willing to help have allowed Greg to do what he has. So it's not really all history making the individual, but its not entirely the individual making history either. It's a bit of both because of how Greg was brought up helping others and how he has the ability with technology and help of others that allows him to do what he as an individual can do. =Chapters 19-23 (May):=
 * Discussion Director:**

May 18th (Chapters 19-20: What did everyone think of these chapters? How did these chapters affect your feelings towards the main question? Who was the Muslim group that got rid of the fatwa?

May 19th (Chapters 21-23: How did everyone like these chapters? What did everyone think of the book overall? How did these chapters make you think of the question and what is your answer to the question after reading this whole book?

May 18th (Chapters 19-20: While Greg is staying in his bodyguard's village in Pakistan, the 9/11 attacks are carried out. In the middle of the night Greg is awoken by others because they heard the something about the attacks on the radio. After getting some guests Mortenson brought with him to Pakistan to safety, Greg went to visit Korphe where he learned that his friend, the leader there, had died. Mortenson meets with some reporters who ask him about his opinions on the area. Mortenson also visits a restaurant where he notices many Taliban leaders. He discusses the events taking place with them over some cups of tea. Mortenson tries to get back into Afghanistan, and after some trouble with the CIA, ends up getting a temporary passport. Back at home, Greg finds a lot of hate mail waiting for him, calling him a traitor. However, he ends up getting support at his next presentation. These chapters really show that events and outside influences affect the individual who is changing history. Because of 9/11, many people generalized the whole middle east as their enemy, and, because Greg was helping their children with education, he was a traitor. Greg did end up getting a lot of support though because people saw building a balanced education for these children as an alternative to fighting them. As a result, the CAI gets a lot of funding. This shows again that historic events influence the individual and those around him. The individual, however, is still the one who has to make more of these events happen, in turn changing history and affecting more individuals.
 * Summary:**

May 21st (Chapters 21-23: Mortenson continues to speak about what is going on in Afghanistan and Pakistan and gets support from the US government, he ends up turning them down however because he feels that it might not be the best thing to have them supporting him. Mortenson travels back to Pakistan where another fatwa has been declared against him. Another Muslim committee nullifies the fatwa and orders the person who declared it to help pay for a school that had been damaged. Mortenson finally manages to make his way into Afghanistan, though only after being caught in shoot outs, and meets with the leader of the mujahadeen. These last chapters helped more with the answer to the main question. The attacks on 9/11 obviously affected Greg and his work. He was suspected by the CIA and many people began thinking of him as a traitor. Many more, however, began funding the CAI in hopes of schools making a more peaceful solution than war. Events like these help influence other people and as a result influence the individual. However it is still that one individual who does what he does. Greg is one of the people who can sit in trucks with goat carcasses in order to help others. Therefore I conclude that history influences the individual who in turn changes history.