This is K2, the formidable peak that Mortenson failed to summit. That failure started him down a whole new path in his life.
The Joy of Trump
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Three Cups of Tea
"Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson.
His mission is to build schools in Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan in remote villages outside of large cities to educate young girls. He sees girls as the instruments for change in these struggling areas.
Greg Mortenson was climbing the Himalayan mountain named K2, a member of his team needed to be evacuated for medical reasons, Mortenson got lost descending and wandered into a tiny village whose members nursed him to health. He promised to return and build them a school for the boys and GIRLS to be educated. Moslem Pakistan is a political hotbed and he faces many challenges in achieving his aim. He started with the goal of building one school and is up to 55 schools today. This is a well told story.
Greg Mortenson lived in Africa and Mount Kilamajaro (left) was the first mountain to catch his interest. His father built Tanzania's first hospital. Greg seems to have learned many lessons observing his father's struggle to build the first hospital in a very poor nation.
My review is simplistic. You will find the book is fascinating and an easy read. You learn something new on every page. For instance,
" If you want to thrive in Baltisan, you must respect our ways... The first time you share a cup of tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family, and for our family, we will do anything, even die. You must take time to share 3 cups of tea."
This is the kind of messages you find in this book. Hence, the name.
His mission is to build schools in Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan in remote villages outside of large cities to educate young girls. He sees girls as the instruments for change in these struggling areas.
Greg Mortenson was climbing the Himalayan mountain named K2, a member of his team needed to be evacuated for medical reasons, Mortenson got lost descending and wandered into a tiny village whose members nursed him to health. He promised to return and build them a school for the boys and GIRLS to be educated. Moslem Pakistan is a political hotbed and he faces many challenges in achieving his aim. He started with the goal of building one school and is up to 55 schools today. This is a well told story.
Greg Mortenson lived in Africa and Mount Kilamajaro (left) was the first mountain to catch his interest. His father built Tanzania's first hospital. Greg seems to have learned many lessons observing his father's struggle to build the first hospital in a very poor nation.
My review is simplistic. You will find the book is fascinating and an easy read. You learn something new on every page. For instance,
" If you want to thrive in Baltisan, you must respect our ways... The first time you share a cup of tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family, and for our family, we will do anything, even die. You must take time to share 3 cups of tea."
This is the kind of messages you find in this book. Hence, the name.
One Man's Mission To Promote Peace One School at a Time
Just read a very inspiring book called:
"Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace One School at a Time" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Chapter 23's opening quote:
Our earth is wounded. Her oceans and lakes are sick; her rivers are like running sores; the air is filled with subtle poisons. And the oily smoke of countless hellish fires blackens the sun. Men and women, scattered from homeland, family, friends, wander desolate and uncertain, scorched by a toxic sun...
In the desert of frightened, blind uncertainty, some take refuge in the pursuit of power. Some become manipulators of illusion and deceit.
If wisdom and harmony still dwell in this world, as other than a dream lost in an unopened book, they are hidden in our heartbeat.
And it is from our hearts that we cry out. We cry out and our voices are the single voice of this wounded earth. Our cries are a great wind across the earth.
________from the Warrior Song of King Gezar
This quote caught my attention. Mortenson seeks to end the tragic lack of basic education, particularly of young girls, in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He offers a way to tolerance, peace and justice while empowering the people he works alongside. He learned to sit down, be quiet, and let the people do the work after being lectured for micromanaging his first school building project. He adapted to the customs of the villagers and they completed the work in first class fashion.
He has some good things to say about helping, such as, to start small -one seed, one penny, one pencil, one child at a time - make that happen and go on from there.
Think outside of the box and do not be afraid of failure. He reminds you to think of the Persian Proverb: "When it is dark, you can see the stars" to deal with failures.
Basic education needs to come before you entertain bigger ideas like critical thinking to deal with extremist dogma. He constantly directs his efforts to the practical and allows the people to take it from there.
Basic tools provide much more than might be expected if considered on the surface , like bringing communities together by simply being able to write letters to distant relatives. Stuff we take for granted. There is no perfect time to begin, now is the time! Ideal conditions seldom arrive.
He quotes Judith Campbell, "When your heart speaks, take good notes." and says he keeps that wisdom on a sticky note on his bathroom mirror. Have a dream, believe its possible, take some actions to get on your path, and periodically evaluate if you are getting any closer.
Mortenson has been working long enough in Northern Pakistan to see some girls go on to higher education in a bigger population center where the girls continue to have even bigger dreams for themselves. The basic education is providing the building blocks to an unimagined future for these and other girls and boys in the remote villages Mortenson has set on a course to better education and all its benefits.
Ask a woman in the Third World what she wants and she will tell you that she wants her children to get an education and that her babies not die. Hence, the schools' curricula includes basic hygiene, sanitation and nutrition. Simple but effective ways to curb the plague of infant mortality in the remote villages where Mortenson works.
Tea is about happenstance, grit, endurance, hostilities and unlikely friendships, sweat equity's undeniable value, community and HOPE. Paradise is in our hearts and our communities so Mortenson rallies and empowers individual communities to build schools and gain an education for their children. He tells of an African proverb:
"If you educate a boy, you educate an individual. If you educate a girl, you educate a community."
Thus educate girls to change the life of a community.
Research is quoted saying,
"If you educate a girl (to at least) fifth grade level you accomplish 3 things:
1) reduce infant mortality
2)reduce the population explosion
3)improve the basic qualities of life and health itself."
Other research says, "$1 invested in a girl's education returns $34 value to her community after 20 years - a very good Return On Investment.
Some of my notes have been taken from listening to Mortenson give a speech on Google which he says he has given to about 80,000 people in 140 cities in the U.S. in the last year (as of Feb 08). That is commitment from a guy who dislikes the public spotlight and speaking in front of audiences.
Push Back Fundamentalism and Bring Peace One School at a Time
In the fight for the minds and the hearts of these people there is competition from the fundamentalist schools funded by the Saudi's, run by the Taliban, called Wahhabi madrassas that are popping up all over Afghanistan and Pakistan. These schools provide a fundamentalist education and turn out right wing male extremists instead of graduating students with a well balanced education. Young men educated to see the West as an enemy or Great Satan. This to me makes his quest all the more urgent and worthwhile and deserving of wide support by the people of free societies like Canada.
Mortenson points out that not everyone needs to drop what they are doing and move to the third world to do charitable works. There are plenty of good causes in our own communities. Underfunded libraries and children graduating illiterate and with few life skills from our modern school system are examples of places to make a difference and to contribute locally.
Mortenson asks that we tell our friends and help him spread the word so I thought it would be a good start to review his book. We support our local library and a Literacy non-profit by buying all our used books from them.
"Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace One School at a Time" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Chapter 23's opening quote:
Our earth is wounded. Her oceans and lakes are sick; her rivers are like running sores; the air is filled with subtle poisons. And the oily smoke of countless hellish fires blackens the sun. Men and women, scattered from homeland, family, friends, wander desolate and uncertain, scorched by a toxic sun...
In the desert of frightened, blind uncertainty, some take refuge in the pursuit of power. Some become manipulators of illusion and deceit.
If wisdom and harmony still dwell in this world, as other than a dream lost in an unopened book, they are hidden in our heartbeat.
And it is from our hearts that we cry out. We cry out and our voices are the single voice of this wounded earth. Our cries are a great wind across the earth.
________from the Warrior Song of King Gezar
This quote caught my attention. Mortenson seeks to end the tragic lack of basic education, particularly of young girls, in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He offers a way to tolerance, peace and justice while empowering the people he works alongside. He learned to sit down, be quiet, and let the people do the work after being lectured for micromanaging his first school building project. He adapted to the customs of the villagers and they completed the work in first class fashion.
He has some good things to say about helping, such as, to start small -one seed, one penny, one pencil, one child at a time - make that happen and go on from there.
Think outside of the box and do not be afraid of failure. He reminds you to think of the Persian Proverb: "When it is dark, you can see the stars" to deal with failures.
Basic education needs to come before you entertain bigger ideas like critical thinking to deal with extremist dogma. He constantly directs his efforts to the practical and allows the people to take it from there.
Basic tools provide much more than might be expected if considered on the surface , like bringing communities together by simply being able to write letters to distant relatives. Stuff we take for granted. There is no perfect time to begin, now is the time! Ideal conditions seldom arrive.
He quotes Judith Campbell, "When your heart speaks, take good notes." and says he keeps that wisdom on a sticky note on his bathroom mirror. Have a dream, believe its possible, take some actions to get on your path, and periodically evaluate if you are getting any closer.
Mortenson has been working long enough in Northern Pakistan to see some girls go on to higher education in a bigger population center where the girls continue to have even bigger dreams for themselves. The basic education is providing the building blocks to an unimagined future for these and other girls and boys in the remote villages Mortenson has set on a course to better education and all its benefits.
Ask a woman in the Third World what she wants and she will tell you that she wants her children to get an education and that her babies not die. Hence, the schools' curricula includes basic hygiene, sanitation and nutrition. Simple but effective ways to curb the plague of infant mortality in the remote villages where Mortenson works.
Tea is about happenstance, grit, endurance, hostilities and unlikely friendships, sweat equity's undeniable value, community and HOPE. Paradise is in our hearts and our communities so Mortenson rallies and empowers individual communities to build schools and gain an education for their children. He tells of an African proverb:
"If you educate a boy, you educate an individual. If you educate a girl, you educate a community."
Thus educate girls to change the life of a community.
Research is quoted saying,
"If you educate a girl (to at least) fifth grade level you accomplish 3 things:
1) reduce infant mortality
2)reduce the population explosion
3)improve the basic qualities of life and health itself."
Other research says, "$1 invested in a girl's education returns $34 value to her community after 20 years - a very good Return On Investment.
Some of my notes have been taken from listening to Mortenson give a speech on Google which he says he has given to about 80,000 people in 140 cities in the U.S. in the last year (as of Feb 08). That is commitment from a guy who dislikes the public spotlight and speaking in front of audiences.
Push Back Fundamentalism and Bring Peace One School at a Time
In the fight for the minds and the hearts of these people there is competition from the fundamentalist schools funded by the Saudi's, run by the Taliban, called Wahhabi madrassas that are popping up all over Afghanistan and Pakistan. These schools provide a fundamentalist education and turn out right wing male extremists instead of graduating students with a well balanced education. Young men educated to see the West as an enemy or Great Satan. This to me makes his quest all the more urgent and worthwhile and deserving of wide support by the people of free societies like Canada.
Mortenson points out that not everyone needs to drop what they are doing and move to the third world to do charitable works. There are plenty of good causes in our own communities. Underfunded libraries and children graduating illiterate and with few life skills from our modern school system are examples of places to make a difference and to contribute locally.
Mortenson asks that we tell our friends and help him spread the word so I thought it would be a good start to review his book. We support our local library and a Literacy non-profit by buying all our used books from them.
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