Three Cups of Tea

by

Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

If for no other reason than its amazing stories of adventure, I rank this book one of the best I have ever read. But this book goes far beyond adventure: It demonstrates the positive impact that one fiercely dedicated individual can have. Most importantly, it demonstrates that there is a better and far more effective way of winning the hearts and minds of people against the efforts of Islamic fundamentalists than our current foreign and military policies.

Greg Mortenson became a passionate devotee of mountaineering, and in a serious mishap affecting his climbing party while attempting to scale K2, (the world's second highest mountain on the Pakistani-Chinese border) found himself alone on a vast glacier where he nearly lost his life. Losing his way, he wandered by accident into a small impoverished and remote Pakistani village where he was cared for until he regained his strength. While recuperating, he was moved by the desire for education on the part of both young boys and girls, in spite of the lack of even a rudimentary school. In gratitude for the care he received, he promised the villagers that he would build them a school.

Returning to the US, he attempted to raise the funds necessary to fulfill this promise.  Writing hundreds of prominent and wealthy citizens to request funding, he met with near total failure until a wealthy fellow mountaineer agreed to pay for the school construction.

Word soon spread and Mortenson was besieged with requests from other villages.  In the U.S., gradually more funds were raised, and a non-profit organization was founded--the "Central Asia Institute", or CAI. [The CAI now has a website (https://www.ikat.org) where extensive information can be obtained and the current status of the program seen].

There are currently 64 schools which have been fully or partially supported and the program has been expanded to included portions of Afghanistan as well as Pakistan.

The distinctive features of Mortenson's program, as detailed in the book, is reliance upon the citizens of each village to commit to providing local labor, planning and materials for the schools, as well as Mortenson's insistence that girls, as well as boys, have access to the education at these schools. Not surprisingly, this insistence sparked opposition from some of the more conservative Islamist leaders and the effort to overcome this opposition makes for exciting reading.

(Review submitted by Ray Weymann; August 25, 2008).