By Rick Rodriguez
I love books that inspire me! Three Cups of Tea is just that type of book. The story is about one man's mission to promote peace...one school at a time. How Greg Mortenson arrives at the point in his life where he becomes involved in a grander purpose is this story. It's the tale of rising from the doldrums to the peaks of K2 (one of the world's largest mountains), and engaging in a culture deemed alien and hostile by many, and overcoming a sensational amount of obstacles along the way. As an American in a foreign country, and aside from the cultural differences, he encounters traditional methods of doing things where the American way is not always welcomed or understood.
The issue I have with this book is the seemingly insurmountable challenge Mortenson confronts in attempting to establish schools at the behest of local warlords in Afghanistan. Let's face it, in some respects, the Afghan culture is hell bent on keeping women subservient: old traditions die hard! This one appears like it will never die! Of course, it is one that I would like to see fade into the past, but even optimism won't overcome this terrible tradition. Naturally, education is the answer and Mortenson does well infiltrating villages deprived of this basic benefit us Americans seem to take for granted.
The book emphasizes that relationship building is the key to any human collaboration. However, in some ways Mortenson must deal with his ethnocentric beliefs and their invalidness in this country. Nonetheless, the right people show up at mostly the right time to further extend his mission in Afghanistan.
I enjoyed reading this book. The text is somewhat smaller point, and naming the local venues, cities, towns, and villages gets a bit laborious to read. Nonetheless, the descriptions provide detail and insight into the terrain, territory, and danger in the region the Author encounters.
Three Cups of Tea is 331 pages. I read this book in July/August 2008.
