Three Cups of Tea

This year's selection for our community reading program is Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson

The Book

From Wikipedia:

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations ... One School at a Time) is a New York Times bestselling book by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin published by Penguin in 2006. The book describes Mortenson's transition from mountain-climber to a humanitarian committed to reducing poverty and promoting education for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Following the beginnings of his humanitarian efforts, Mortenson became co-founder of the Central Asia Institute, a non-profit group that, as of 2010, has overseen the building over 171 schools. These schools currently provide education to over 64,000 children, including 54,000 girls, where few education opportunities existed before in the remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The book's title comes from a Balti proverb: "The first time you share 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..."

The Author

Greg Mortenson

Greg Mortenson is an American humanitarian, writer and former mountaineer. Mortenson is the co-founder and director of the non-profit Central Asia Institute as well as the founder of the educational charity Pennies for Peace.

From Wikipedia:

In 1993, as a memorial to honor his sister Christa's memory, Mortenson travelled to northern Pakistan to climb K2, the world's second highest mountain. After more than 70 days on the mountain located in the Karakoram range, Mortenson and three other climbers completed a 75-hour life-saving rescue of a fifth climber. The time and energy devoted to this rescue prevented Mortenson from attempting to reach the summit. After the rescue, he began his descent off the mountain. Mortenson set out with local Balti porter Mouzafer Ali to the nearest city. Mortenson, however, took a wrong turn on the trail and ended up instead in the small village of Korphe. Physically exhausted and ill at the time of his arrival there, Mortenson was cared for by some of Korphe's residents while he recovered.

As a gesture of gratitude to the community for their compassion toward him, Mortenson said he would build a school for the village after he had noticed local students attending school in an outdoor location and writing out their lessons in the dirt. After experiencing frustration in his efforts to raise money for the school, Mortenson convinced Jean Hoerni, a Silicon Valley computer pioneer, to fund the building of the Korphe school. Following Mortenson's success in building the school, Hoerni invited him to serve as director of the Central Asia Institute. The mission of the non-profit organization is to promote education and literacy, especially for girls, in remote mountain regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mortenson was named as the CAI's first Executive Director by Hoerni.

In the process of building schools, Mortenson has survived an eight-day armed 1996 kidnapping in the tribal areas of Waziristan, in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province; escaped a 2003 firefight between Afghan opium warlords; endured two fatwas by hardline Islamist clerics for educating girls; and received hate mail and threats from fellow Americans for helping educate Muslim children.

Mortenson believes that education and literacy for girls globally is the most important investment all countries can make to create stability, bring socio-economic reform, decrease infant mortality and population explosion, as well as improve health, hygiene, and sanitation standards globally. Mortenson believes that "fighting terrorism" only perpetuates a cycle of violence and that there should be a global priority to "promote peace" through education and literacy, with an emphasis on educating girls. "You can drop bombs, hand out condoms, build roads or put in electricity, but unless the girls are educated, a society won't change," is an often-quoted statement made by Mortenson. Because of community "buy-in," which involves getting villages to donate land, subsidized or free labor ("sweat equity"), wood and resources, the schools have local support and have been able to avoid retribution by the Taliban or other groups opposed to girls' education.

As of 2010, Mortenson has established or significantly supports 171 schools in rural and often volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which provide education to over 64,000 children, including 54,000 girls, where few education opportunities existed before.

Where Can I Get Three Cups of Tea?

• Check our catalog for the book's availability. You can place a hold on the book if it's checked out.
• Check MeLCat and order the book to be delivered from another library.
• You can read excerpts from the book, on Google's Book Search and Amazon.com.
• Taylor's Stationers in Coldwater should have extra copies on hand to purchase.
• You can order it from your favorite online book retailer.

Library Events

We'll be having book discussions at all branches, you're welcome to attend any and all of them.

• Monday, March 7th 2-3 p.m. Coldwater Library 3rd floor meeting room
• Tuesday, March 8th 5-6 p.m. Algansee Library
• Wednesday, March 9th 11a.m.-12 noon Union City Library
• Wednesday, March 9th 6:30-7:30 Bronson Library
• Thursday, March 10th 5-6p.m. Sherwood Library
• Saturday, March 12th 10a.m.- 12 noon Quincy Library
• During February and March, you'll be able to participate in an online discussion of the book on our web site.