Three Cups of tea, One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time

Three cups of tea is a true inspiring account of an accidental humanitarian, Greg Mortenson, who makes his mission to bring education to the Pakistan’s forbidden terrain of the isolated northern areas. After his failed attempt to climb the killer mountain, K2, the second highest peak in the world, Mortenson spent a time in a village in the Karakoram Mountains. Moved by the extreme poverty, the hardships of the people and their innumerate hospitality and kindness Greg promised them to build a school for the children, especially the kinds.

The books walks the reader though Greg's initial attempts of raising enough capital for his first school. It makes the reader truly sympathize with him given his great hardships to save every penny he can to keep the promise he made to the villagers, sleeping on the back of his car, writing countless letters to celebrities asking them to part with a small bit of their fortune so a dream of education can be realized in another part of the world.

For me, the best part of the book is when Jahan, the first educated women in the Braldu valley, explains to Grey that before her education she used to be so embarrassed of her dirty clothes the dirt on her body to even be in contact with a foreigner like him. She goes on to outline her future ambitions of becoming the first doctor in her village and spread the gift of education to the other girls in her village.

I would strongly recommend this book. Its truly fascinating with an utterly inspiring message. Reading this books awakes a spark of social responsibility. It also gives another view point of the life in Pakistan the root of extremism and how it can be eliminated by education. In the current circumstances where every one only attaches negative connotations to Pakistan, this book gives a passage into the heart of the Pakistani people and shows that they are not all terrorists, hardliners and extremists. They are people of great endurance and hospitability, with moderate religious views and hopes and dreams which is the right of every human being. Its sometime disturbing to hear my (educated) western friends who claim to be open minded, labeling all Pakistanis as religious wakos who want to blow themselves up and kill as many 'infidels' 'non-believers' as they can.

I think Greg Mortenson should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. If you plan to buy the book online, please buy it thought the Amazon link at this website http://www.threecupsoftea.com/
This way 7% of the proceeds will go to the Central Asia Institute ( the charity founded and headed by Greg Mortenson)