Three Cups of Tea

Three Cups of Tea , by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

Three Cups of Tea has gained world-wide interest in Greg Mortenson and the Central Asia Institute he founded. With the help of journalist David Oliver Relin, Three Cups of Tea is an inspirational and very well-written tale of how Mortenson became determined to help educate the young children who live in the wild, mountainous regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. An avid adventurer and mountaineer, Mortenson originally set out to climb the notoriously dangerous K2 in 1993. Failing to achieve his goal, Mortenson became totally lost in the Karakoram Mountains of northeastern Pakistan. Found and aided by local tribesmen, he ended up in the village of Korphe. While Mortenson was disappointed with not climbing K2 successfully, he became totally enamored with Korphe and its population. In particular, he noticed the lack of schools and availability of education for Korphe's children. He was became dedicated to the goal of building schools in this area as the way to combat the extreme, fundamentalist religious training that has contributed to the violence in the world. Following this goal, he organized the Central Asia Institute and through it, he has built numerous schools throughout the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Three Cups of Tea is a great reading experience and is highly recommended. For those readers who become interested in this story, it is suggested that they visit www.ikat.org to see great photographs of that area of the world and read more about Mortenson's mission.
-Roy