By Chuck HinsonSpecial to the Turnagain Times
By Chuck Hinson
Special to the Turnagain Times
The very idea that a failed mountain climber can switch gears and focus on making a real difference in another country sounds pretty noble, idealistic and even unrealistic. But why should that stop someone who believes passionately in what they are doing?
Greg Mortenson is responsible for establishing the Central Asia Institute, an organization dedicated to building schools primarily to educate young girls in remote parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Fifty-four of them have been constructed as of this date, with more planned and on the way. Quite an accomplishment for a young man who thought he was a failure for not completing an ascent to K2, back in 1993.
As a result, Mortenson, whose story is recounted by journalist David Relin in the popular book “Three Cups of Tea,” has become a sort of an inspirational hero. The book, published in trade paperback by Penguin in 2006, not only has won numerous awards, but it has become a must-read for book clubs and idealistic do-gooders everywhere.
The writing has been criticized for being uneven, but the story is vivid and hopeful.
In a land ruled in part by Taliban extremists, the challenges were understandably monumental. Mortenson started literally with pennies accumulated by his mother’s elementary school students, received a hundred dollar donation from Tom Brokaw, and then, after almost no response to fund raising requests, he received a check from a donor for $10,000. This enabled him to get to Pakistan and begin the tedious process of building the first school in the remote village of Korphe. It was the same place he had landed after separating from his party while trying to climb K2, his first exposure to real life in the region. Countering unbelievable odds, Mortenson’s humility got him through the building of the first school in Korphe, which took three years.
From there, he was able to inspire tribal elders and Shia clerics to see the advantages, through interpretation of Islam law and the Koran, to educate their children. A review of the book in the Seattle Post Intelligencer quotes Mortenson:
“Once you educate the boys, they tend to leave their villages and go to work in the cities. But the girls stay home, become mothers in the community and pass on what they’ve learned. If you really want to change a culture, to empower women, improve basic hygiene and health care and fight high rates of infant mortality, the answer is to educate girls.”
The lesson of his life and his book is “that ultimately to achieve global peace and defeat terror, we must do it with education and books, not edicts and bombs.”
************
My partner at Girdwood Coffee Company, who has just returned from a coffee conference in Minneapolis, came back inspired about the numerous efforts going on to help people in other countries as well. One organization in particular, the Café Femenino Foundation, offers grant programs which offer women in coffee communities an opportunity to change their lives and the future of their families. The foundation believes that “Coffee Can” make a difference. So, next time you stop in for your morning java, notice the can on the counter and drop in some spare change. We’ll be sending all proceeds to the foundation to raise funds for malnutrition education, micro-lending for women in small businesses and other education and social programs in Peru, Guatemala and Mexico.
Chuck Hinson is the owner of Girdwood Books and News.