January 22, 2009 Issue
Three Cups of Tea Selected for Appalachian’s 2009 Summer Reading Program
A book about one man’s determination to change the lives of young school-age children by building schools in remote Afghanistan and Pakistan has been selected for the 2009 Summer Reading Program at Appalachian State University.
Three Cups of Tea, coauthored by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, follows Mortenson’s evolution from mountain climber to humanitarian.
“This book illustrates the power of one individual to change the lives of many,” said Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock in announcing the selection. “This book will surely inspire all who read it.”
The book will be read by all incoming freshmen at Appalachian as part of the university’s First Year Seminar Program. Mortenson will speak to members of the campus community and others during Convocation on September 10 in the Holmes Center.
Emory Maiden said Three Cups of Tea impressed the university’s Summer Reading Committee with both its message and straightforward style. Maiden, a professor in the Department of English, chairs the committee.
Greg Mortenson with Khanday community school students in Hushe Valley in the Karakoram mountains of Pakistan.
“Mortenson’s book is a story of transformation: His apparently simple promise to help one family and their neighbors gives his life a new and fulfilling direction. Similarly, those who respond to his offer of hope, especially young women who flock to the schools, embrace the changes new knowledge brings,” Maiden said. “We thought his story, in its assertion of the power of one person and of education as an agency for peace, would be a valuable source for discussion among our first-year students, our university colleagues and for the rest of our regional community as well.”
As of 2008, Mortenson had established more than 75 schools in rural and often volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, schools that provide education to more than 28,000 children, including 18,000 girls, where few education opportunities existed before.
Mortenson was born in Minnesota. He grew up on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania where his father co-founded the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center, a teaching hospital.
He served in the U.S. Army in Germany from 1977-79, where he received the Army Commendation Medal. He graduated from the University of South Dakota and pursued graduate studies in neurophysiology.
Six members of the U.S. Congress have nominated Mortenson for the Nobel Peace Prize. In March, he will receive Pakistan’s highest civil award, Sitara-e-Pakistan (“Star of Pakistan”) for his courage and humanitarian effort to promote education and literacy in rural areas. Pakistan’s president will present the award in a ceremony in Islamabad.
Mortenson is the co-founder of nonprofit Central Asia Institute and Pennies For Peace. He lives in Bozeman, Mont., with his wife and two children.
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