Three Cups Of Tea

I just finished "Three Cups Of Tea" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. It tells the amazing story of an American man (Mortenson) who took initiative despite enormous obstacles to improve the lives of countless others. In 1993 while trying to summit the K2 mountain peak in Pakistan, mountaineer Mortenson drifted into an impoverished village where he was taken in by the inhabitants and nursed back to health. Moved by the villagers' kindness he promised to return and build a school, but over the next decade he built not just one but 55 schools - especially for girls - in the forbidding terrain that gave birth to the Taliban. Not only is this story at times a white-knuckle adventure (his life was threatened more than once and he was kidnapped at one point) but it is a testament to the power of the humanitarian spirit. Mortenson had to overcome physical, cultural, language, religious and financial obstacles that would have made most people throw up their hands and give up.

Many things motivated Mortenson to do this work and initially the primary objective was simply to repay a debt. But as time went by it became clear to him that one of the secondary benefits to building schools was the reduction of religious fundamentalism in the areas where the children were given a secular (non-madrassa) education. He had personal conversations with men in the Taliban who said they joined the Taliban as a means of earning a living. Many of these men grew up in villages with no schools. Without education they had limited means by which to support their families and the Taliban paid them for their "work."

As I said at the beginning Mortenson particularly wanted to provide education for girls; this has already had tangible results. One of the girls who attended Mortenson's first school went on to higher education in maternal and infant health. In the valley where she has instituted a maternal/infant health program the death rate (at the time he finished his book) has gone from staggering to zero.

Greg Mortenson now runs the Central Asia Institute (http://www.ikat.org/) which is continuing the work he began by himself 15 years ago. He spends many months of each year away from his family and this summer he's in Pakistan and Afghanistan doing more of the same. If you want to order his book he requests that you order it off Amazon by going to his site first - this way 7% of the proceeds will go to his organization. The word "hero" is used easily and often in our country, but from my perspective these people frequently don't qualify for that accolade. Greg Mortenson? Now there's a real hero.

Now - the significance of the title. When Mortenson lived in Korphe, the village into which he stumbled that first day, he met and was brought under the wing of the tribal chief, Haji Ali. Haji Ali ends up becoming a father figure for Mortenson and advises him to slow down if he wants to achieve his goals. Americans want to just go in and make things happen, but Haji Ali tells him he'll accomplish more by doing things their way. "Here (in Pakistan and Afghanistan), we drink three cups of tea to do business; the first you are a stranger, the second you become a friend, and the third, you join our family, and for our family we are prepared to do anything - even die."

Here are some pictures of his "kids" and the schools he's responsible for getting built.

All images courtesy of Greg Mortenson, Central Asia Institute

‘Three Cups of Tea is one of the most remarkable adventure stories of our time. Greg Mortenson’s dangerous and difficult quest to build schools in the wildest parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan is not only a thrilling read, it’s proof that one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, really can change the world.’ -Tom Brokaw