The Des Moines Register

The Des Moines Register

April 15, 2007

Climber builds peace one school at a time

By Tony Leys, Register Staff Writer

Greg Mortenson points out a flaw on the first-edition cover of his best-selling book.

The photo - of three head-scarved girls reading books - is fine.

So is the title, "Three Cups of Tea."

But he winces at the original subtitle: "One man's mission to fight terrorism and build nations ... One school at a time."

The publisher who chose those words figured the phrase "fighting terrorism" would interest Americans and sell more books.

Mortenson contended the words misstated his motive in writing the book and in educating poor children in the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

When the paperback edition came out this year, he insisted on a new subtitle: "One man's mission to promote peace ... One school at a time."

Promoting peace. That's the point.

You fight when you're afraid, Mortenson explained.

You promote peace when you have confidence and hope.

Mortenson, 49, will spread that message in Iowa this week with his co-author, former Iowa Writers' Workshop instructor David Oliver Relin.

Their primary appearance will be Wednesday as part of the Des Moines Public Library's AViD author series.

They were scheduled to speak at the Central Library, but the event was moved to Roosevelt High School's bigger auditorium to accommodate the kind of large crowd Mortenson has been drawing around the country.

Readers come to hear the tale of a self-absorbed mountain climber who became an accidental missionary.

The story began in 1993, as a disappointed Mortenson hiked down from K2, a legendary Himalayan mountain he had tried to climb.

During the exhausting hike, he took a wrong turn and stumbled into an impoverished Pakistani village. The people fed him, sheltered him and opened his eyes.

The worst thing he saw was children who had no prospect of education to lift them out of misery. When he regained his strength, he vowed to return and build them a school.

Mortenson flew home to the United States, where he raised $12,800 for materials to build the school. That led to another school, and another and another.

The book recounts his struggle to navigate central-Asian customs and to interest American donors in his friends' plight.

He has been kidnapped by gunmen and blocked by bureaucrats. He's been denounced by some mullahs and embraced by others. He has traveled unarmed into areas containing al-Qaida fighters and Taliban militiamen.

He and his local partners have persevered, building and staffing 58 schools, which have educated more than 20,000 students in Pakistan and nearby Afghanistan.

The primary schooling, overseen by local teachers, costs about $1 per month per child. The brightest students receive scholarships to continue on to high school.

In a telephone interview from his Montana home, Mortenson said ignorance is a more threatening enemy than gunmen. Millions of children around the world receive no schooling, he said. They are the most vulnerable to messages of hate.

Mortenson's schools focus on educating girls, who rarely have the chance at education in the areas where his group works.

He cites an African proverb: "If you educate a boy, you educate an individual. If you educate a girl, you educate a community."

Rural boys often use their schooling to find opportunities elsewhere, he said.

Rural girls are more likely to stay in their villages and use their knowledge to improve life there.

Mortenson spends four to five months a year living in mountainous, isolated areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The villages' inhabitants are Muslims, some of whom have been indoctrinated by extremist teachers spewing venom toward America. But Mortenson said most villagers want a better life for their children.

"They would rather have their kids get an education than join the Taliban," he said.

The book's title, "Three Cups of Tea," refers to the gradual process of becoming a trusted partner with people in developing areas.

With the first cup of tea, you're a stranger. With the second, you're an honored guest.

With the third, you're family.

Mortenson said Westerners often think they know what's best, and they raise hackles by forging ahead with their ideas.

Instead, he said, they should assume the role of humble guests.

"Part of the reason we're in trouble in Iraq and Afghanistan is we're better at talking than listening," he said.

The best thing America could do is invest more in education, which represents a small fraction of our spending on military efforts in the region, he said.

The United States also must learn to accept slow, steady progress, he said, with success measured over generations.

"We can't just go into a country and turn on the light bulb, plug in the socket and say, 'You're a democracy.' "

Mortenson has family roots in Minnesota. He is a husband, a father, a U.S. Army veteran and a former emergency-room nurse. He describes himself as an everyday person swept up in an unexpected cause.

"I don't think of myself as an Indiana Jones or a Rambo. I think of myself as a Midwesterner," he said.

"I pretty much consider myself a normal guy."

Reporter Tony Leys can be reached at (515) 284-8449 or tleys@dmreg.com.

Greg Mortenson and co-author David Oliver Relin have two public events scheduled in Iowa this week:

• 7 p.m. Tuesday: "Live at Prairie Lights," Prairie Lights Books, 15 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City.
• 6:30 p.m. Wednesday: AViD author series, Roosevelt High School Auditorium, 4419 Center St., Des Moines.

More info: Greg Mortenson's charity, Central Asia Institute, has a Web site at www.ikat.org.

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