Three Cups of Tea

Image courtesy of Greg Mortensen, Central Asia Institute

I just finished reading the most amazing book and I now feel compelled to tell the world about it. Paul and Jessica gave us the book Three Cups of Tea for Christmas and I have to admit, I was a little skeptical about it at first because it is outside the range of what I normally read, but I was pleasantly surprised. It is a true story about a guy named Greg Mortensen who was a mountain climber and was invited on an expedition to climb K2. Well, he failed to make it to the summit and on the way down became separated from his group and ended up stumbling into a little mountain village in Northern Pakistan. He was a bit wary because he had been warned that the people were harsh and unfriendly, but they welcomed him like a brother and gave him their best blankets to sleep on and the best food they had. He was so impressed with their kindness and so appalled when he found out that the children had no school and had to share the cost of a teacher with a neighboring village because the government didn't provide for their education that he promised he would come back and build them a school. So when he got back to America, he wrote tons of letter asking for donations, but had no luck until a fellow climber heard about what he was trying and do and wrote him a check for the whole amount ($12,000). Anyway, after a lot of trials and setbacks, the school got built, and it was so successful that the rich guy decided to start a foundation to build lots more schools throughout rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. This became really important because at the same time, a lot of Wahhabi madrassas (Sunni religious schools-many of which are basically Taliban training schools) were popping up all over the place and were having much success recruiting young boys because the boys had no other hope for the future. Mr. Mortensen didn't intend the project to be a fight against terrorism, but he soon realized that by offering children, especially girls, a balanced education, he was in effect cutting off the enemy's source of support. Now, before you start thinking "Western cultural imperialism," you have to understand that the native people were begging for schools because they too, understood that education was the key to a brighter future. They bought supplies for their projects locally to stimulate the economy and used local labor to build the schools and for the teachers. The book was very inspiring to me--if I had money, I would donate to the cause. I don't know if I've done a very good job inspiring you; you can go to www.threecupsoftea.com or www.ikat.org for more info, but the websites really don't do as much as reading the actual book does. This was my favorite kind of book--the kind that I read through as fast as possible to finish it, then go back and copy down my favorite quotes and reread my favorite parts. It has a lot of appeal--to people interested in mountain climbing (Joe, Janet), education (me, Jessica), women's issues (Sas and everyone at the WRI), politics and national security (Preston, Paul, basically all the Franzens, Dad), or children (Mom, Shannon, Tracy, basically everyone). If you buy a copy off Amazon.com a portion of the proceeds go the Central Asia Institute, or look for it at the library, or if you're around here, you can borrow our copy. Just read it--trust me, you won't regret it.