Book Review: Three Cups of Tea

Many of our spouses have spent time in Iraq or Afghanistan, and in the coming years, many of them will probably return.  So much of the news is that comes out of that region of the world is so incredibly horrible, American casualties, civilian casualties, insurgency, civil war that it becomes very difficult to remember the people our spouses and our country are doing this for.

The book Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson is an amazing chronicle of a former mountaineer's work to build schools for the children, and especially the girls of rural Afghanistan and Pakistan.  On his descent after a failed attempt at climbing K2, the second highest mountain in the world, Greg Mortenson became separated from the rest of his party in the Pakistani wilderness.  He stumbles upon a very small poverty stricken village where he is fellowshipped, feed, and nursed back to health.  While there, the village leader shows him their school where the children are huddled underneath a tree, using sticks to write in the dirt.  Their teacher is away teaching at another village, and so they come to work on their lessons anyway.  Mortenson becomes determined to build a school to serve these children and improve the quality of life for the entire village.  Over the next ten years, he has managed not only to build one school, but over fifty-five and a number of other projects including fresh water and vocational centers.  His story is inspiring, but it also gave me a totally new perspective on Islam, and how keeping promises can combat hate.  I know many of our spouses have the same opportunities to show the communities they serve in the Middle East, that we do want to make their lives better, and even though we maybe be infidels, we can show that we are all brothers and sisters.

If you'd like more information about Mortenson's Central Asia Institute, please visit their website.