Greg Mortenson

Author and 2009 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Greg Mortenson said he wants people to know there are good things going on in Afghanistan and Pakistan and that education can bring people together, despite their background.

Mortenson, who wrote the bestselling books, “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One school at a Time” and “Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” shared his story Monday at The University of Texas at Tyler.

A native of Montana, Mortenson grew up on a slope of Mount Kilimanjaro where his father founded the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre and his mother founded the International School of Moshi.

Mortenson was in a remote village in Pakistan recovering from a grueling mountain climb, when he encountered children using sticks to write in the sand because they had no paper or pencils or books or schools. He was so moved by their desire to learn that he vowed then and there to build the village a school.

He teamed with businessman Jean Hoerni to form Central Asia Institute, an organization that builds schools in remote regions in Afghanistan and Pakistan and encourages the education of girls.

Mortenson said the organization has established 141 schools with more than 64,000 students. This year, it plans to put in about 40 new schools, with an emphasis on teacher training.

UT Tyler President Dr. Rodney Mabry described Mortenson as a “great role model.”

“He is really making a difference in much more than an isolated way. He has a special understanding of that region and is changing that area more than what you think he could do in just building schools,” Mabry said.

He added, “he has a special way about him, and his thinking is neither right nor left, but just effective.”

During his time at UT Tyler, Mortenson told audience members the story of a fourth grade student from Tyler who sent a letter to him that said “peace is noisy.”

At the time, the student’s class was collecting pennies and would throw them in a pot each week.

“He described how if we want peace, sometimes we have to make noise,” Mortenson said.

He also talked about his experiences in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

He said about 120 million children in the world are not in school — about 80 million of them girls — and that education is a way to lift people out of poverty.

Mortenson went on to say he is a big advocate of educating girls.

“Women bring life into the world. Women nurture life,” he said.

Mortenson said the Taliban has closed down 2,100 schools, many of which are girls’ schools.

“I think they’re destroying girls’ schools because they’re afraid she might become a mother who promotes the importance of education in society,” he said. “Educated women (also) are less likely to encourage (someone) to get into violence.”

Mortenson said he also has seen a “tremendous” learning curve with military members.

He said military members overseas are listening more to people, have respect and build relationships with elders.

There are 32 provinces in Afghanistan, Mortenson said, and every province has 50 to 100 elders.

He said the Taliban is trying to drive fear into society by destroying the relationship between elders and youth.

However, elders are a great way to learn about heritage and tradition, Mortenson said.

Throughout all his experience, he said he has realized the United States is a great country “not because of our commonality, but our diversity.”

Mortenson also got a chance to visit with Hubbard Middle School students Monday after they presented him with a check for $3,049.53.

The money will go to the Pennies for Peace campaign, an international service-learning program through the Central Asia Institute. A penny will pay for one pencil for a student.

Cindy Nick, a sixth grade social studies teacher at Hubbard, said 93 students participated in the project and read “Three Cups of Tea” as part of a cultural study on Central Asia.

Ms. Nick said the students are finding that learning extends beyond the classroom and that not all students in the world always have teachers and school supplies.

“We were using him (Mortenson) as an example of how one person can make a difference …” she said. “(We wanted) to teach these students the power of with just one penny and one person, we can change the world one child at a time through education.”

(c) Tyler Morning Telegraph 2010

http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20100413/NEWS08/4130353