Friday, September 17, 2004

?Build a School? campaign succeeds

School built with funds raised by valley residents


By DANA DUGAN
Express Staff Writer

Pakistani girls await their new school in Chonghogrong. Photo by Kate DeClerk

Chonghogrong, a small mountain village in Pakistan's Karakoram range, was hit hard by mudslides. Half the population fled, never to return. The remainder rebuilt their lives but no school existed for the children. However, times have changed for the village. Chonghogrong will be the recipient of a new school thanks to the dedication of Wood River Valley residents.

The Build a School, Change the World campaign was implemented in November 2003 to raise money for a Wood River Valley school in the Karakoram range. The necessary amount to build a school, supply it, and build the infrastructure is $25,000.

Build a School, Change the World is co-hosting a slide show with the Environmental Resource Center at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 25, at the nexStage Theatre in Ketchum. The show will be presented by the board chair of the Central Asia Institute, Julia Bergman. The CAI has built over 40 schools in the Karakoram Range, which Bergman has visited eight times.

Based in Bozeman, Mont., the Central Asia Institute is a nonprofit organization started in 1996. Initial funds to establish CAI were provided by Dr. Jean Hoerni, a Swiss physicist who was one of the pioneers of the Silicon Valley microchip industry.

Hoerni?s widow, Jennifer Wilson is a resident of the Wood River Valley, who owns Isabel?s Needlepoint shop and was instrumental in restoring the Ezra Pound birthplace in Hailey, which now serves as the Hailey Cultural Center.

The school campaign reached its goal this summer with the help of many people in the community, including The Community School seventh grade and seniors, Community Service group and students Ashley Alfs and Scarlett Caldwell.

?Bergman will begin the show with her own personal story,? Liz Schwerdtle said. ?She?ll knock your socks off.? Schwerdtle and her sister, Amy Bingham, are the instigators behind the local fundraising efforts. The National Honor Society of the Wood River High School, Youth Adult Konnection and the Interact Club also all helped raise money as well as Darcy?s Learning Garden Pre-School and many others.

Kate DeClerk, formerly of CAI, was particularly thrilled that the Wood River Valley program was being ?given? Chonghogron for the school, Schwerdtle said.

?It was a unique situation,? she added. ?Kate feels this specialness. The village was wiped out in a mudslide and it was the saddest thing she?d ever seen. People were starving and eating grass, it was horrible. She said the town is just an amazing testament to human perseverance.?

The last time that DeClerk was there the children met her with flowers, leis and cookies, Schwerdtle continued.

?They?re so excited about the school. They?re just beside themselves. There are to be 54 students, 30 of whom are girls.?

Greg Mortenson, with whom Hoerni founded CAI has said, ?Educating girls reduces infant mortality, levels off the population explosion and improves the quality of health and life. It?s an important step in reducing terrorism and helping the nations rebuild. A literate girl passes on the importance of education when she becomes a mother. Literacy also prevents a despotic Islamic mullah from using illiteracy to control people and undermine a community.?

The response to the Build a School, Change the World campaign is the ?Positive response of our valley to 9/11,? Schwerdtle said. ?You can make a huge difference 7,000 miles away. We have such an opportunity to positively affect situations.?

The Wood River Valley school in Chonghogrong will be named the Kanday Lower Community School.

?When I first thought about doing this project in our community, I had someone?an educated, respected person?say, ?Why there (in Afghanistan or Pakistan)? Those people turn me off.? Well, that is exactly why this project is important and why this show is important,? Schwerdtle said.

?It helps us to understand others, especially people who are living in such a hugely important part of the world. We are the same, just in different circumstances. We all want the best for our kids. We want the hope and opportunity that education brings, and we are thrilled when our dreams for our children are answered.

?Knowledge leads to understanding. This slide show is the perfect example. It teaches us as much about them as our willingness to fund their school has taught them about us. And that's before a book has even been opened.?




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.