“One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time.”

Terrorism.  It is a word we are all too familiar with, especially since 9/11.  It is an international problem. Through the books that tell his story- Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools, Greg Mortenson presents a solution: education. 

When Mortenson, a mountain climber, finds himself lost in the peaks of Pakistan, he stumbles across a native village.  Welcomed and nursed to health, Mortenson discovers that the Korphe “school” is not only outdoors in one of the harshest climates in the world, but also lacks both a daily teacher and books.  Mortenson promises to return with the money to build a school, beginning an incredible journey. 

From the first school at Korphe, Mortenson’s mission has grown to over 170 schools throughout the many isolated villages in Pakistan and Afghanistan.  “Dr. Greg” as he came to be called discovered that the only real education the children of these remote communities had was to attend a madrassa, built and run by the Taliban.  Parents desperate to educate their children were sending them to these schools. 

The doctor’s prescription?

 Build schools, educate these children, and they will learn to read from someone besides the Taliban.  Additionally, Mortenson’s schools provide education for girls, and by giving successful students scholarships to attend city universities, they are in effect benefiting the whole village.  The educated girls return home, bringing their knowledge with them, and improve the quality of life for everyone.

The story itself is powerful, and the books skillfully utilize rhetoric to drive the message home.  Fighting is not the answer- teaching is.  Greg’s incredible ethos supports the novels.  He has witnessed firsthand the state of the education system, and the burning desire that villagers have for schools.  The books make clear that Mortenson is not forcing something on these people- they are begging him for it.  Mortenson has suffered through time held in captivity by the Taliban, fearful for his life.  Despite the danger, he has dedicated himself to founding a rural education system, spending months of his time in central Asia instead of at home with his supportive wife and children.  He is believable and undeniably driven, so readers trust and support. 

Pathos is obviously a key component.  The trials Mortenson has endured evoke sympathy, but the detailed depictions of the villagers themselves evoke understanding.  These are not bad people.  They have needs and desires just like anybody else, but their lives are a world away from ours.  Instead of wanting the latest in technology, they want books and they want to learn how to read them. 

Logically, if something so simple can be so meaningful, if schools can rid the world of terrorism, why not throw everything you have into building for a purpose, instead of destroying everything in sight?  Practically, Mortenson is setting up these villages to educate themselves by hiring native teachers, and passing responsibility on to Pakistani and Afghan people.  The schools Mortenson helps found can be maintained long after he moves on.  The villagers can find their own success and can embrace a future where they no longer need to turn to foreigners for help.  Mortenson is successfully setting up a viable, self-sustaining system.

These books deserve to be read by everyone.  They have already become required reading for all officers and Special Forces that enter Afghanistan.  Clearly, if even the government is listening, this message has merit.  

For more information visit: http://www.threecupsoftea.com/ and http://www.penniesforpeace.org/