where have you gone?
around the world so they can return
as doctors and environmental specialists to help their native country.
O���Connor���s high school was built to
increase the science and technology literacy in the area going forward.
���We���re really going to break a cycle
of poverty,��� said Karen O���Connor,
Zeke���s daughter who took over as the
foundation���s president five years ago.
���It���s always one thing to build a project, but the sustainability is the other
thing.���
She traveled to Nepal when the
school was dedicated and said she
was floored to see the mutual respect
between her father and the sherpas.
That feeling hit home for O���Connor in
a much different way during a dinner
in Nepal in 1995.
The British royal family had just
announced it was appointing Hillary
to the Order of the Garter, the most
exclusive inner circle of knighthood
occupied by only 24 people at a time.
O���Connor was in Nepal and delivered
the news to some of their local friends.
One of the excited sherpas popped
up from his seat and said, ���Sir Ed
deserves this so much, we���ve always
thought of him as our king. And you,
Zeke-sahib, you are our queen.���
���The guys never let me live that one
down,��� he said.
