Allison Cafe

One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School At A Time

I recently finished reading the non-fiction book, Three Cups of Tea, One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School At A Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. The book came recommended to me by my Mom and Dad, who had just finished reading it. They both gave it a glowing review and I decided to give it a read.

Every now and then you come across a book that affects you in profound ways, Three Cups of Tea is no exception. The book chronicles Greg’s experiences in Pakistan and Afghanistan while trying to spread the opportunity of education to remote, and often secluded, villages. What I found amazing was that Greg didn’t start his journey by setting a large goal of building hundreds of schools throughout the region. In fact, the need for schools in these small villages came to him by accident.

After a failed attempt to climb K2, Greg stumbles into a remote, poor village in Pakistan. What he discovers there is a village that could only afford a teacher for a group of 82 school children three days a week. And they had no school, only an open field. On the days where the teacher was not present, the students would gather in this open field and practice the lessons that the teacher had left behind. Greg had the same reaction most of us would have. How many children here in the U.S. would voluntarily gather and conduct their studies without any prompting or adult supervision? Greg was inspired. And so the real journey of his life began. Greg worked tirelessly to raise the initial $12,000 to build his first school in rural Pakistan.

The sacrifices that Greg made in his own life to fuel his project were beyond admirable. He often was homeless, living out his car, literally scraping together pennies to raise the money he needed. And even after he began to find donors in the climbing community, he still watched the budget for his projects closely. I did find it interesting that he began by seeking donors in the education community, and got little support. It was his fellow mountaineers that felt the personal connection to this part of the world and recognized the need to support Greg’s project. And it wasn’t easy, the book is full of surprising and often tense moments as Greg encounters challenges along the way. Oh, and there is a little love story mingled in there, I won’t spoil it though, you have to read about Greg’s “no hesitation” romance.

What I walked away from the book realizing was a few important things. First of all, on a personal level I was inspired by Greg’s journey, which created a life full of purpose. Sometimes in life our purpose finds us, not the other way around, if we keep an open mind. But the bigger lesson was the power of education. The book discusses at great length the effect that education has on a country’s culture, politics, poverty and even terrorism. Education for girls was particularly of importance to Greg. Educating the girls and women of a village has a direct affect on the community’s economy, crime and even politics. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is seeking to learn more about this region of the world, but more importantly to learn about the power of education.  And maybe for a little inspiration for living a life full of passion and purpose, like the admirable Greg Mortenson.

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