As with many other books we recommend to patrons, you will likely have to wait to get Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations– One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson (371.822 MOR ). But the wait is worth it.
Greg Mortenson’s story begins in 1993 with a failed climb of Pakistan’s treacherous K2. The oxygen deprived Mortenson fell seriously ill and lived only because he was found and nursed back to health by residents of a remote Pakistani village. Mortenson determined shortly after to build a school for the village children. He has since dedicated his life to community based education in remote mountain regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The story is true and one of the most hopeful, inspiring stories I have read in years. Greg Mortenson’s is the face I wish each of the world’s citizen’s would associate with America.
JHL
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why he story named 3 cups of tea
Mortenson used “Three Cups of Tea” because of the lesson he learned from his Baltistan mentor, Haji Ali. It took a very long time for Mortenson to get the funding for the school, procure the materials, transport them. By the time he got to Haji Ali’s village – Korphe, in Pakistan – he was very impatient for the project to come to fruition. Haji Ali told him:
“If you want to thrive in Baltistan, you must respect our ways…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….you must take time to share three cups of tea.”
Mortensen is quoted in the book (p 150) “That day, Haji Ali taught me the most important lesson I’ve ever learned in my life… We Americans think you have to accomplish everything quickly… Haji Ali taught me to share three cups of tea, to slow down and make building relationships as important as building projects.”