Former Prime Minister Helen Clark is trekking through Nepal this week - an expedition that's marking 100 years since Sir Edmund Hillary's birth.
As the first to ascend Mount Everest in 1953, Sir Edmund carved out a reputation for himself as one of New Zealand's great legends.
- Alex Hillary follows grandfather’s footsteps
- 'An act of serendipity': Passport documents of Sir Ed Hillary, All Blacks, ex-PM discovered
- Sir Edmund Hillary's son says there are too many inexperienced climbers on Mt Everest
But Clark says Sir Edmund should be remembered not just for his ascent of Everest, but for the legacy he left behind in one of Nepal's poorest regions.
"He didn't just see scaling Everest as a notch on the belt and on you go and you forget about the people that helped you, he came back to help the people who helped him," Clark said.
That help has left an incredible legacy in the Khumbu region.
"It really changed the lives of people for the better forever."
From the early 1960s, the Himalayan Trust opened schools in one of the most remote and inaccessible regions of Nepal. Khumjung school was the first to open, where Clark visited.
Hillary also built Kunde Hospital and a number of associated health clinics.
It's that history that means in Nepal Kiwis are held in high esteem.
"To me, that sums up the way Ed Hillary was. He didn't talk about himself in a way, he talked about what he could do for others," Clark said.
Service and contribution to a region in need. A special relationship between two distant nations because of one very humble man.
Newshub.
