Greg Mortenson

As a result of missing a turn-off as he was hiking back from a failed attempt to climb K2 in the Himalayas, Greg Mortenson’s life took a new turn.

Mortenson ended up in a remote, poverty-stricken village in northern Pakistan where a village family took him in to recuperate from the strain of trying to climb K2, the world’s second-highest mountain. While bonding with the family over cups of tea, Mortenson learned the village had no school building for its children who studied outside when the weather was nice. Upon leaving the village to return to his home in California. Mortenson vowed to return one day and build a school.

Three Cups of Tea: Building Schools in Asia

Three Cups of Tea is the story of how Mortenson built not only the school in that village, but also schools in remote areas of Pakistan and later war-torn Afghanistan. His book is subtitled, “One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time.” And that’s how he did it.
Fundraising Was an Obstacle Initially

Fundraising was the biggest obstacle to overcome at first. Back in California, he camped out at friends’ homes to save money on rent. He wrote hundreds of letters to celebrities and organizations, but got only one response, a $100 check from news anchor Tom Brokaw.

A fellow mountaineer offered help through a notice in his organization’s newsletter. This led to contact with a former Seattle climber who underwrote the $12,000 cost of the school, but who feared Mortenson would use the money on drugs and booze. He didn’t, and this contact later left $1 million for Mortenson’s schools in his will.

Author Finds More Villages Want Schools

Mortenson returned to the Pakistani village and had to deal with other villages which wanted the school. Then he had to deal with militant Muslim clergy who did not think an infidel should be involved in educating the nation’s children. It was a struggle, but he eventually won them over in countries where the American military was not popular. Mortenson’s group, the Central Asia Institute, then took on building schools in war-torn Afghanistan. The institute also started paying salaries for teachers existing schools in Afghanistan who weren’t getting paid because of the war against the Taliban and terrorists.

Three Cups of Tea is co-authored by David Oliver Relin, who accompanied Mortenson on a couple of trips to Asia. He interviewed people helped Mortenson fulfill his dream, even Pakistanis who had initially opposed the building of schools. Mortenson united feuding Muslim sects together to work for a common goal: educating the villages’ children.

Three Cups of Tea Makes Best-Seller Lists

Their book hit No. 1 on the New York Times best seller list, and has won numerous other awards, including being named Time Magazine’s Asia Book of the Year.

Three Cups of Tea is a book that proves that one man can make a difference, that guns aren’t always the answer to solving the world’s problems. Mortenson persevered against all odds, and his institute has now built several dozen schools for Afghan and Pakistani children.

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