Brittany's Blog

Title: Three Cups of Tea

Author: Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

Year: 2006

Three Cups of Tea is an amazing story that every American should read. This book not only tells a thrilling story, chapter after chapter, but also is a history lesson in modern events, and seeks to dispel stereotypes of of Islamic culture.

The story begins in 1993, with Greg Mortenson’s expedition to climb K2 in Pakistan. His summit attempt was not successful. Worn from too many days at high altitude and feeling disheartened from his failed summit attempt, Mortenson missed a crucial turn in the trail while heading down the Braldu Valley toward Askole. Little did he know that his wrong turn would forever change his life.

Mortenson wandered into the tiny village of Korphe where he found a peace that he had long forgotten. In the village leader, Haji Ali, Mortenson found both a friend and a mentor. Slowly, Mortenson awoke from his dazed state and one day asked to see the village school. The next day, Haji Ali guided Mortenson to the village school. Mortenson was awestruck when he saw 78 boys and 4 girls kneeling on the open ground, working on their studies without the help or guidance of a teacher. “I’m going to build you a school,” Mortenson said to Haji Ali. And Mortenson was a man of his words.

I don’t think Mortenson really knew what he was getting into when he made this promise. He headed back to the US with the goal of finding a way to fund a school in Korphe. He sold his car, lived sparingly, and worked extra hours to save money for this project. He wrote several hundred letters, most without the use of a computer, but did not have adequate funding. Mortenson’s dream would not have been realized without the help of Jean Hoerni, a Swiss-born physicist and mountaineer enthusiast, who would become Mortenson’s benefactor.

Mortenson returned to Pakistan to build the school in Korphe, thinking he would be able to build it before winter. But, nothing is ever easy in Pakistan. Bridges needed to be built first, and men needed to work so they could live through the winter. Along the way, Mortenson realized that Korphe was not the only village in the Braldu Valley that needed a school, as other villagers begged him to build his school elsewhere. While laying the foundations of the Korphe school, Mortenson laid the foundations for the rest of his life’s work.

Through trip after trip to Pakistan, Mortenson expanded his contacts and his influence. “Dr. Greg” became known up and down the Braldu valley and beyond. Through Mortenson grew the CAI, Central Asia Institute, a non-profit organization that helped fund and oversee Mortenson’s projects. Mortenson began overseeing projects everywhere, from schools to women’s centers to aiding refugee camps. Between trips, Mortenson managed to marry Tara Bishop, and have two children. The book dialogues Mortenson’s highs and lows, successes and failures, and emphasizes how Mortenson’s success stemmed from his close-knit bunch of supporters, both in the US and Pakistan. Three Cups of Tea follows Mortenson through a Taliban kidnapping, events leading up to 9/11, the reporter-circus that followed, the US invasion of Afghanistan, and a CIA interrogation.

Though Mortenson began originally began building his schools because he believed that every child should have an education, he quickly realized the political need for such schools. At the same time, Islamic fundamentalists were building wahhabi madrassas which “targeted the impoverished students the public system failed. By offering free room and board and building schools in areas where non existed, madrassas provided millions of Pakistan’s parents with their only opportunity to education their children.” Unfortunately, some of these madrassas taught jihad and it is estimated that more than eighty thousand of these students became Taliban recruits.

Mortenson saw the need to provide a more neutral education, and education especially for women. “If the girls can just get to a fifth-grade level,” Mortenson says, “everything changes.” He continues, “Once you educate the boys, they tend to leave the villages and go search for work in the cities. But the girls stay home, become leaders in their community and pass on what they’ve learned. If you really want to change a culture…. the answer is to educate girls.”

Three Cups of Tea continuously tells story after story revealing the difficulties villagers had to face just to obtain a simple education- something American students too often take for granted. One of the most compelling stories is that of Aslam. When Aslam was only eight years old, his father woke him early one day. They walked two days to the end of their trail where Aslam’s father handed him two coins and said when “you get to the town of Khaplus, you will find a school. Give the Sahib who runs the school these coins to pay for your education.” Aslam’s father then pushed Aslam into the river. Not able to swim, Alsam floated down the river, in tears, to his new life.

Three Cups of Tea also provides an interesting insight into Islamic culture. Mortenson learns to pray like a Muslim, and through countless interactions, learns the ways of the culture. Though a patriarchal society, this culture dues not support suppression or abuse of women. American views of Islamic religion are poisoned by the images of Taliban oppression and abuse. But, the majority of Muslims are not so extreme. The book tries to dismiss American stereotypes of Muslims, and portrays them for what most of them are- kind and caring individuals, who care for their family, friends and neighbors, perhaps more than most Americans.

Aside from educating about the Muslim culture, Three Cups of Tea also tells a modern history lesson. Through the escalation of wahhabi madrassas, Mortenson could basically see the growth of the Taliban and the anti-Western sentiments that grew with them. Only something big could come from such a hatred-mentality where martyrs are heroes. After 9/11, Mortenson shifted some of his efforts to Afghanistan. A war supporter at first, Mortenson changed his mind when he realized that the US invasion was killing thousands and thousands of innocent civilians. Mortenson’s friend Bashir exclaims, “People like me are America’s best friends in the region. I’m a moderate Muslim, an educated man. But, watching this, even I could become jihadi. How can Americans say they are making themselves safer?” He goes on to say, “You have to attack the source of your enemy. In America’s case, that’s not Osama Bin Laden or Saddam or anyone else. The enemy is ignorance. The only way to defeat it is to rebuild relationships with these people….. Otherwise the fight will go on forever.”

Mortenson’s reputation preceded him, across borders, mountains, and languages. Mortenson was originally drawn into Afghanistan by a band of Kirghiz horseman that rode over the mountains to seek Mortenson in Zuudkhan. They too, wanted a school for their children. Shortly after, Mortenson found himself in Afghanistan, talking to teachers who haven’t been paid in months, desperate for any book other than the Koran, all of which had been banned by the Taliban. A year after the initial US invasion, Mortenson conversed with the Afghan King Shah, who stated, ” We don’t see many Americans in Afghanistan anymore. A year ago this plane would have been full of journalists and workers. But now they are all in Iraq. America has forgotten us. Again.” Mortenson speculated that only a third of the money that America promised had made it’s way to Afghanistan.

Determined not to allow American to make the same mistake it made by abandoning Afghanistan after the Soviets pulled out, Mortenson began his own version of “Charlie Wilson’s War”. Mortenson found himself braving several life-threatening events to make his way to rural Baharak, to build a school for the Karghiz nomads. Upon his arrival, he immediately wins the support of Sadhar Khan, the leader of the region, who states, “There has been far too much dying in these hills. Every rock, every boulder that you see before you is one of my mujahadeen, shahids, martyrs, who sacrificed their lives fighting the Russians and the Taliban. Now we must make their sacrifices worthwhile. We must turn these stones into schools.”

Mortenson’s message reads loud an clear. War is not solved by killing, but by educating. I believe the education needs to happen on both sides. Not only do the poor villagers of Afghanistan and Pakistan need to be schooled, but we as Americans need a lesson. If we strive to understand Islamic culture, perhaps we can break the band of hatred that surrounds us. Perhaps we can achieve peace through understanding, one cup of tea at a time.

_____________________________________________________________________________
Mortenson has recently written a new book about his more recent achievements, titled Stones Into Schools. I am looking forward to reading this book soon!