Central Asia Institute's Greg Mortenson: Fighting Terrorism By Building Schools~

You may have first heard of ex-mountaineer-turned-humanitarian Greg Mortenson in Parade Magazine right after 9/11. Today, after globetrotting journalist David Oliver Relin published Mortenson’s astounding story in Three Cups Of Tea, your chances of having heard of him are much greater with dozens of enthusiastic articles/reviews from around the world written about the 2006 book. He’s also not getting the hate mail he used to right after 9/11, to be sure. Mortenson is touring the United States to promote it. For more info on this, check out threecupsoftea.com and for more info on the Central Asia Institute that he directs from Montana, please see ikat.org.

When Mortenson failed in 1993 to reach the summit of the most deadly mountain in the world, the “K2” in the Karakoram Range of Baltistan, he wandered alone and half-dead in an attempt to connect with his porter, only to be rescued by a village he’d never heard of, who helped him to regain his health. The title of the book comes from a conversation he had with that village’s headman, Haji Ali, who became his wise surrogate father.

"The first time you share tea (green tea with salt and yak butter) 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 part of the family.”

Mortenson came to realize that the children of this mountain village, Korphe, had no school. A teacher from a distant village would do what she could for the kids as they used sticks to draw in the sand, which made Mortenson promise Ali that he’d raise the money to build them a school. It took him three years to first build a sturdy bridge and then a pretty, four or five-room school, but he did it! Relin tells about Mortenson’s struggles back home to raise the money by sending out 580 letters to rich Americans with the help of a Muslim who taught him to use a computer. Only former newsman Tom Brokaw sent a donation, one hundred dollars, and some kids at a school.

A fellow male nurse friend tipped him off about Jean Hoerni, a Swiss-born physicist who was in the team of scientists who helped pave the way for the silicon chip and had also been a climber with a fondness for the Karakoram. Mortenson nervously called him and easily got the $12,000 he asked for, which was the estimated cost of building a school. After selling all of his books, climbing gear and car, which was everything, he had enough to return, buy the materials with a friend to guide him, and to triumphantly arrive across the river from Korphe.

Mortenson then realized how badly other villages needed a school. The Pakistani government hadn’t fulfilled their decades-old promise of schools in the region and so the impoverished villages were on his heart when he returned almost penniless home where he promptly needed to look for another job and girlfriend. Finally Hoerni comes through again, after Mortenson feels like a failure, and establishes the Central Asia Institute with Mortenson as director. Now with a million dollars he can set about building schools up to fifth grade for both boys and girls, giving them a secular, non-extremist education. Villagers are happy to help and Mortenson uses local experts to finish three or four-room schools in about three months.

Thirteen years later he’s still at it in spite of being kidnapped by the Taliban, receiving fatwas from fundamentalist mullahs, being caught between opium smugglers and in a war zone, and missing his supportive wife and family back in Montana. He’s built fifty-five schools, which hardly compares with the huge numbers of extremist-educating madrassas that often breed terrorists, but his schools serve almost 23,000 kids who have often gone on to higher education to try to make something of themselves.

Mortenson also builds vocational centers for women, training centers, tent schools for refugees, better ways to receive water and to address the eye cataract problem. He is affectionately known around Pakistan, Afghanistan and Baltistan as Dr. Greg because he’ll treat people if he can. The Supreme Council of their Islamic faith gave their approval to his work, as well as some unlikely leaders. You’ll enjoy getting to know Mortenson’s trusted, lovable friends over there in a land that we usually associate with terrorists. You’ll also see why he has risked his life to make a positive difference in their lives and why his wife and thousands of people are supporting him.

I was swept away completely by Three Cups Of Tea. When Mortenson brought Hoerni, quickly fading away from disease, a blown-up photo of the first school, I had tears in my eyes. Relin writes with so much detail that it’s like being there or reading Mortenson’s journal. Hoerni’s last days were spent with Mortenson who cared for him and his family understood again. We don’t really get to know his wife too much, except for their brief courtship (try six days until the wedding!), but it’s enough.

If Greg Mortenson isn’t an example of how one person can move mountains, ha ha, then I don’t who is. He has his faults, it’s true. Raised in Africa by Christian professionals, he still runs on African time. That, though, is much outweighed by his great heart and intelligence. You couldn’t find a better place to donate to than Central Asia Institute (CAI), which is the only non-profit organization doing so much good in that war-torn area.

The website is ikat.org. Ikat is the fine, gorgeous silk made over there by intricate weaving, but it’s not sold on the site. It’s about CAI weaving people of different faiths (and sects) together to build a better future.