Book Review: "Three Cups of Tea"

Sometimes a book just grabs me and I feel I must evangelize about it. Three Cups of Tea is one of those books. Subtitled "One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations ... One School at a Time", it is the story of Greg Mortenson -- a former mountaineer -- who ended up in the Pakistani mountain village of Korphe after a near fatal attempt at climbing the famed K2 in 1993. Grateful for the warm hospitality shown to him by the village, he promises to come back and build a school for Korphe's children. True to his word, Mortensen returns to Korphe (and the saga of raising the money and building that first school is an adventure story unto itself.) In the process, Mortenson realizes that much of rural Pakistan is without schools (especially those that will educate girls) and a mission is born. With the help of the mountaineering community (one crotchety old man in particular, who gives him a check for $12,000 accompanied by a note -- "Don't screw up!") he founded the Central Asia Institute (CAI), which had built 55 schools as of the book's publication, as well as a number of other humanitarian projects.

Most interesting was Mortenson's account of being in Pakistan over September 11, 2001. His eyewitness descriptions of the rise of the Taliban and the Saudi-financed madrassas in the years prior to the 9/11 attacks are fascinating. It is clear that the 9/11 attacks were a long time coming. It is also clear that they had little to do with the majority of people hating America. And I woul maintain that Mortenson's work is doing much to further the cause of peace.

This is a part of the world that I admit knowing very little about. Yet today alone there were two news articles that made a little more sense to me since I read this book. (Here - h/t to Quaker Dave - and here.)

One caveat: I'm not particularly keen on the writing style of Mortenson's co-author. This story first appeared in a very abbreviated form as an article in Parade Magazine ... and not to sound like a literary snob, but it shows. On the other hand, that initial article generated the first widespread U.S. interest in Mortenson's project and raised a lot of money from ordinary individuals when the CAI was teetering on the brink of insolvency.

I was also struck by the fact that Mortenson's key supporter in Congress was Mary Bono, a Republican. Sometimes recognizing a genuinely humanitarian effort cuts across party lines. And Mortenson himself is no flag waver; he is appreciably critical of the Bush administration and their handling of the so-called War on Terror.

As I was reading it, I was reminded of another excellent book that I read a couple of years ago: Mountains Beyond Mountains, about the work that physician Paul Farmer has done in Haiti and elsewhere. I am reminded again that one person can be a catalyst for doing immense good in the world, and with a lot of contributions directed toward the large NGOs (like UNICEF, Heifer Project or AFSC) I am planning to direct my efforts this year to the CAI and Steady Footsteps (which I wrote about last week.)