Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

I came across this book a few months ago at a local bookshop. I devoured it in three days last week. I knew it would be touching and inspiring but ... gosh, I can't count the number of times I was brought to tears by it! I know that on at least five occasions I had to close the book and compose myself! It's one of those books that makes you want to do something wonderful.

Greg Mortenson was born in 1957 but spent most of his childhood in Tanzania where his parents were missionaries. He was a keen mountaineer from an early age and when his beloved sister Christa passed away on her 23rd birthday he decided that he would take her favourite necklace of amber beads and leave it at the summit of K2 at 28,267 feet in tribute to her.

Alas, Greg didn't make it. He got very sick and was taken in by the small Pakastani village of Korphe. When Greg sees the village children using sticks and sand to write their times tables in the freezing cold weather he makes a promise to the village elder and his people to return and build them a school. This promise grows to be "The Central Asia Institute" which has since built and furnished more than fifty school in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. There are fascinating accounts of the villagers, Taliban officials, con artists, generous philanthropists (including Jean Hoerni, A Silicon Valley pioneer who was a huge part of Greg's success) and the students themselves.

This particular paragraph made me clench up with emotion .. it was at the inauguration of a primary school in Kuardu three days after 9/11. These words were spoken by Syed Abbas, a religious leader.

"These two Christian men have come halfway around the world to show our Muslim children the light of education. Why have we not been able to bring education to our children on our own? Fathers and parents, I implore you to dedicate your full effort and commitment to see that all your children are educated. Otherwise they wil merely graze like sheep in the field, at the mercy of nature and the world changing so terrifyingly around us. I request America to look into our hearts and see that the great majority of us are not terrorists, but good and simple people. Our land is stricken with poverty because we are without education. But today another candle has been lit. In the name of Allah the Almighty, may it light our way out of the darkness we find ourselves in."

The title of the book comes from a Balti proverb.....

The first time you have tea with a Balti you are a stranger. The second time you are an honoured guest. The third time you share a cup of tea you become family.

Please Read!