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The Man Who Broke A Mountain: It Took Him 22 Years, But He Proved Everyone Wrong
When you live in a small town, you often have to travel to other nearby towns for supplies. Usually, that means that if the town is one mile away, you travel one mile to get there. For the people in Gelhour, a 300 foot mountain stood between them and the nearest town, Wazirganj. Gelhour was very poor and did not have a school, hospital, or anyJOBS. To access these things, the only options for people were to walk 45 miles around the mountain, or risk life and limb climbing over it. The climb was difficult, dangerous and took hours, but it was a daily necessity for almost everyone in Gelhour.
One day, a man named Dashrath Manjhi was working to collect wood for his family on the other side of the mountain. It was long hard work, so his wife climbed over the mountain to deliver him some food when she fell. She was hurt and their dishes had broken and Dashrath decided that was enough.
How many years have people been falling and breaking pots, he wondered?
Dashrath was going to put an end to that. He sold the family's three goats in order to buy a hammer, chisel and crowbar and decided to break his way through the mountain.
Everyone in town thought it was impossible; even his brother had wondered if he had gone mad. This was too big of a task for one man, and how on earth could he continue to earn a living for his family? What single man could break down a mountain that stood over 300 feet high?
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Given 22 years, Dashrath could. Every day he worked plowing the fields of others from 8am until 1pm in order to feed his family. From 4am until 8am and again from 1pm until late evening, he chiseled down the mountain so that he could feed his dream.
Finally, after many many years of hard work, he was done. Dashrath had cut the mountain. With just his hands and rudimentary tools, he had created a path 25 feet high, 30 feet wide and 360 feet across. Wazirganj was now only a 3 mile walk for the men and women who worked and for the children to go to school.
Dashrath didn't stop there. He pushed for the road to be connected to the main road, so that the 60 villages of the Atri region could access it. He walked along the railway lines to New Delhi to submit a petition there for his road to be paved as well as for a hospital for his people, a school and clean water.
Dashrath passed away from cancer in 2007, but his legacy and dream of a better community live on in the people he knew, and with every life that he helped make easier. He inspired those he knew and continues to inspire those who learn about his story. Dashrath believed that through his work he could uplift not just his family or the villiage, but the entire community. In doing so, he felt that he would never die.
Today, his friend Ramcharit Prasad manages the Dashrath Manjhi Welfare Trust to set up an employment training school in his honor. This school would educate and give skills training to everyone, especially to girls, to give them a chance to create a better life in Gelhour. Dashrath is used as an example of motivation for the children. Even when things seem impossible, if you believe in yourself you can create lasting change.
. To access these things, the only options for people were to walk 45 miles around the mountain, or risk life and limb climbing over it. The climb was difficult, dangerous and took hours, but it was a daily necessity for almost everyone in Gelhour. 
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