What’s the Story Lady Reading? Story of a Living Peace Symbol: Review of Three Cups of Tea

My eclectic taste in books next brought me to one that some friends of mine read for their book club.  Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time It is a masterful example of direct emotional response storytelling.

Mountain climbing devotee Greg Mortenson made an unsuccessful attempt to reach the summit of K2. He staggered down the mountain, and a wrong turn brought him to the people of a small and poor town. They nursed him back to health, though they mad little to spare, and he found his ultimate purpose in life.

He vowed that he would come back and build a school for their children, including the girls. Yet when he came back to his home in the USA, he found the task of fundraising daunting. Not knowing how to use a computer at first, he individually typed letters to influential people, hoping for donations.

It would only take $12,000 USD to build and supply a school. Yet the wealthy and influential did not flock to his aid. Would you like to guess who gave him the most in donations at first?

Watch this video…

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Greg talked to children at the school where his mother worked. He told them about children in Korphe, Pakistan, who drew letters in the sand with sticks and only had a teacher some of the time. Plus, the girls had no way to be educated. They wanted to do something. Realizing everyone has a penny, they collected over 6,000 pennies.

Three Cups of Tea is a real life adventure in bringing education and peace to Pakistan and Afghanistan. You can read the original version of Three Cups of Tea, and there is also a young reader’s version.

This book excites me on many levels. For one, it is a brilliant collection of personal narrative example’s that walk you through Mortenson’s life-changing climb and his passionate dedication to building schools. One of the women I know who read this book thinks Mortenson was crazy to live in his car. I say his passion drove him to sacrifice what most people consider a normal life in order to make his dream a reality.

Imagine this. He cared so deeply about having enough money for a school in Pakistan that he lived in his car and used a storage space to keep a few items. That’s because he did not want the expense of rent to rob the children of their education. He used money sparingly in order to power his dream.

That’s an impassioned servant willing to give up so much, including what we in America would consider “the basics” such as a place to live, because that was the only way he felt he could get things started. Later, he garnered other resources, but at first, he was willing even to give up a place to live. Now he has a modest house and a family.

I truly admire his passionate devotion.

I really love the story about how he met his wife. The video below is his first daughter singing the song, “Three Cups of Tea.”

Education Changes Lives

I’ve been thinking a lot about the power of education since reading this book. In America, education is pretty much a given, and even those who drop out still live in wealth by global standards. You can be a grade school dropout and still have an apartment, a cell phone, a TV, and so forth. I’ve always been a proponent of giving people all oaver the world an education, but I never realized the depth of the issue until reading this book.

My commitment to education is deeper because I understand on a deep soul level what it’s like in places like Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, and so many other parts of the world. When you don’t have an education there, you truly don’t have options. Think of how many people who join the Taliban or other terrorist organizations do so because they’re simply trying to have the ultra basics of food and a roof over their heads. It’s easy to think people make those choices out of political or religious loyalty, but so often, it’s simply because without an education, there are few options.

I cried more than once while reading this book. When I read about the young woman educated in one of the first schools Greg helped establish march into a meeting of men and demand that Greg live up to his promise to send her for medical training so she could help her people. I did a fist pump and shout for joy!

Powered by Peace

Did you ever stop to realize how much peace is linked to education? So often I’ve heard people complain that America will send money everywhere else for schools and medicine. Yet stop to think about it. Sure, children are our future, but it’s more than that cliche.

When you have the opportunity of education, you realize you have choices. Education turns boys and girls with little guidance into empowered young men and women who understand that they can choose their own destiny.

This book will help you know the people of Pakistan. When you know how people live and stop to ask them what is important to them, it is easier to bring about peaceful relations.

One thing that popped out for me as I read the book is the power of relationships. Several times, Greg had intended to build a school in a certain place, however, the wisdom of someone who knew the specific people involved urged him to leverage the relationships first. And this is so true everywhere.

Relationships are the key to building any dream. Greg started out as a lone wolf and spent so much time and energy trying to get things moving. But through the power of people who knew the situation and people who had the financial ability to provide funding, his dream got legs.

Three Cups of Tea is a powerful peace symbol. It is about spending enough time with people to get to know them and share their lives. By the time you have had 3 cups of tea, you have received not only gracious hospitality, but trust.

Please read this powerful book and bring a little more peace into the world in so doing.

order Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time

Related articles by Zemanta

• Stones into Schools: Mortenson climbs another mountain (thestar.com)
• Greg Mortenson On Bill Moyers: A Better Path To Peace In Afghanistan (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
• 1 man’s voice, 1 man’s mission; 2nd shot to see ‘Three Cups of Tea’ co-author Mortenson (bendbulletin.com)
• Amid devastation, oppression, compassionate effort expands (boston.com)
• A Very Different and Positive Way of Bringing Peace to “Trouble Spots” (innovationtoronto.com)
• Educating Girls – Our Responsibility in Afghanistan? (kingstonaauw.blogspot.com)
• A cup a cha – A review of ‘Three Cups of Tea’, By Shaikh Muhammed Ali (liveactivecultures.net)

Ronda Del Boccio is a transformational speaker, mentor and author known globally as The Story Lady because she teaches authors, entrepreneurs and business owners to easily connect with your ideal customers and contacts through the power of your story.

She is the author of numerous stories, poems, and articles, as well as her books I’ll Push You Steer, and other upcoming books.

Discover how to explode profits, prospects and prime media opoprtuntiies with her latest book is the Instant Credibility system, which teaches any business owner, entrepreneur, coach, speaker or writer to craft a lead-generating book that grows your business.

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