Three Cups of Tea: An AMAZING Story

Last night I finished reading Three Cups of Tea, and I was so amazed by the story that I kept Jason awake so I could tell him everything that happened. I have to admit that I do this with almost every book I read, but in this case, the book was a true story--and it really changed the way I think about so many things. I thought I'd write a bit about it here, in case some of you are thinking of reading it.

 

Before I go any further, I'll admit that when this book was recommended to me, I didn't think I'd really be interested, given the title (i.e., I don't even drink tea!). But when I saw the cover, and read the back, I was already intrigued. Early in the year I'd read a novel called A Thousand Splendid Suns, which heightened my interest in the Middle East and helped me learn quite a bit about Afghanistan.

Three Cups of Tea is about an American man (Greg Mortenson) who fails to climb K2, has a rough time getting down the treacherous mountain, and then ends up being nursed back to health by the people of a very poor village in Pakistan. After seeing the bleak conditions of the children in the village (who are attempting to hold school classes without a teacher, building, etc.--just drawing with sticks in the dirt), he ends up promising the people there that he will come back and build a school. He goes back to California, becomes almost hopeless in his attempts to raise money and return to build the school, but then ends up doing incredible things to help the people of the Middle East. Anyway, you can read a more detailed summary online if you want to, but I thought I'd just make a few comments on the book and the story.

First, this book deals with some of the world's most important issues: education (the importance of educating women, particularly), peace/terrorism/national security, and human potential.

This book is incredibly eye-opening. Greg Mortenson was one of the only people from outside the small villages where he built schools to even know that these places existed. The people in these villages were desperate for their children to receive education, some parents even sending their sons down the river on primitive rafts in hopes that they would find another village where they could be educated. The parents didn't know if they would see their children again. At times I could hardly bear to read about what these people would sacrifice for their children to learn.

I also learned that a lot of the teenagers who became Taliban fighters came from poor families who sent their sons to the only schools that were available--which were extremist religious training centers. One of the book's chapters, titled "The Enemy is Ignorance," has this heading:

"As the U.S. confronts Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, Greg Mortenson . . . is quietly waging his own campaign against Islamic fundamentalists, who often recruit members through religious schools called madrassas. Mortenson's approach hinges on a simple idea: that by building secular schools and helping to promote education--particularly for girls--in the world's most volatile war zone, support for the Taliban and other extremist sects eventually will dry up."

The book's introduction also makes this statement: "Mortenson goes to war with the root causes of terror every time he offers a student a chance to receive a balanced education, rather than attend an extremist madrassa."

Three Cups of Tea has interesting passages about Mortenson's interaction with Taliban leaders, his experience with being kidnapped, the relationships he developed with Pakistani villagers, the ways the world changed after 9/11, and even how Mortenson met and married his wife. I actually think Greg Mortenson is one of the most incredible people I've ever read about--his devotion to education and his sincere concern and respect for the people he met in Pakistan and Afghanistan allowed him to do things very few people could.

Now, having said all of that, I have to also report that the author's writing style was not my "cup of tea" :) I found many of the sentences "overly embellished" with extra adjectives and attempts at metaphor. I also found at the beginning of the book that the author never resists going off on a tangent to explain the historical significance of this or that--even when the information seems irrelevant. But by the middle of the book none of this bothered me--I found that I'd become interested in even the tangents, because I was intrigued by the story and wanted to know more.

I was so excited about what I was reading that I told Ben all about it, too--he was also very interested and wanted to know more, but I found it difficult to provide him with age-appropriate details to round out the story. Then when I was looking for a picture of Three Cups of Tea online, I found that there is a children's adaptation of the story called Listen to the Wind that will be released in January--so, of course, I pre-ordered it (sorry, Jason--I couldn't resist) :)

 

Anyway, if you're interested in Three Cups of Tea, my copy will be available as soon as I re-read it!