SEPTEMBER 17, 2009 ISSUE
Author Greg Mortenson Visits Boone, Accepts Donations for Pennies For Peace
Cami Hastings presents a check for $1,000 to Greg Mortenson on behalf of her group, APE (Animals, People and the Environment).
Pennies for Peace is a program of Central Asia Institute (CAI) and founded by Greg Mortenson, author of The New York Times bestseller, Three Cups of Tea. The book was chosen as ASU’s 2009 Summer Reading selection, and Mortenson spoke to ASU students, faculty and teachers during convocation on September 10.
CAI is a nonprofit organization that promotes and provides community-based education and literacy programs, especially for girls, in remote mountain regions of Central Asia. In the 13 years since it was founded, CAI has built nearly 100 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which serve more than 28,000 students—14,000 of whom are girls.
For more information, click to www.penniesforpeace.org.
Greg Mortenson Visits Boone
Last Thursday, September 17, Mortenson made his way around Boone giving presentations at places such as the Watauga Public Library and ASU’s Convocation Center.
During his stay in Boone, Mortenson was presented with a check in the amount of $1,750 from Karma Krew to be donated to the CAI. The money was raised under the supervision of many volunteers based in Boone. Mortenson also received a check in the amount of $1,000 from Cami Hastings and her group, APE (Animals, People and the Environment), at the Watauga Public Library, which was also donated to the CAI. Other donations were made but figures are unknown as of press time.
Pennies for Peace is not exclusive to the High Country, it has a worldwide presence.
Greg Mortenson stands on stage with contributors of Pennies for Peace. The participants pictured are from local area schools that participated in the fundraising event, which began in March.
Locally, Neighborhood Karma Krew, a local chapter of the national yoga-based nonprofit Karma Krew, sponsors Pennies for Peace.
Kelly Golden and Holly Whiteside started the project in Boone in March, and the focus of the fundraising was local county schools. The intention was to allow everyone, especially the children, to see what a difference a penny can make.
Susan Weinberg, co-director of the Fall Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series said, “Building a bridge was the first step to the first school of the many Greg Mortenson has built. With the presentation of these checks to Mr. Mortenson, we hope to build an invisible bridge from the children and teachers of this High Country to students and teachers of other mountains across the world.”
In a region where terrorist organizations recruit uneducated, illiterate children, the pencil can empower a child to read, write, learn and make the choice for peace. The Pennies for Peace program goal is to encourage students to learn the value of philanthropy by collecting pennies for global peace.
Donations were collected at Mary’s Montessori School, Crossnore Elementary, Hardin Park, Parkway Elementary, ASU Child Development Center, Two Rivers Community School, Caldwell Community College, Watauga High School’s Mountain Alliance, High Country Church of Christ and Green Valley Elementary School.
What Does a Penny Represent?
The penny is one percent of a dollar, which is symbolic of the one percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) the United Nations proposed to give to impoverished nations. This sum of one percent goes to education, food and shelter, and allows a platform to excel, not just survive.
Locally, Neighborhood Karma Krew, a local chapter of the national yoga-based non-profit Karma Krew, sponsors Pennies for Peace.
For more information on volunteering, contributing or initiating Pennies for Peace in a local school or office, email booneyogini@gmail.com or boone@karmakrew.org, or call 828-773-6693.
Mortenson Offers Simple Solutions to Achieving Peace in Central Asia
Finding a solution to the conflicts occurring in Pakistan and Afghanistan may be as simple as taking time to listen to tribal leaders, building relationships with villagers and enhancing educational opportunities, particularly for young girls.
That’s the advice that Greg Mortenson offered while speaking at ASU on September 10 as part of convocation and related activities. Mortenson is the co-author of the book Three Cups of Tea that tells of his experiences building schools for children living in remote sections of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Mortenson said that when people question why the U.S. military should remain in Afghanistan, they should consider this: in the year 2000, only 800,000 children were enrolled in school in Afghanistan. Today 8.4 million are enrolled in school, including 2.5 million females. “It is the greatest increase in school enrollment in any country in modern history,” he said.
That growth is despite efforts by the Taliban to destroy schools.
In the last two years, the Taliban has bombed destroyed or shut down more than 800 schools, 90 percent of which were schools for girls, Mortenson said. “So why do a group of men want to bomb a girls’ school and not a boys’ school? I think it’s because their main fear is not a bullet but the pen.”
By destroying schools, the Taliban more easily gain control over young boys who they recruit to fight. “They are primarily going to illiterate, impoverished areas because many educated women refuse to allow their sons to join the Taliban,” Mortenson said.
“There is a saying in Islam that the ink of a scholar is holier or greater than the blood of a martyr, meaning that the pen is mightier than the sword,” Mortenson said. “If education continues in the community, [the Taliban] have lost the ability ideologically to control society.”
Col. Christopher Kolenda, a former commander in eastern Afghanistan, has seen the changes that education is bringing to Central Asia. In an email to Mortenson, Kolenda wrote that, “This conflict will not be won with bombs and bullets, but with books and ideas that excite the imagination towards peace, tolerance and prosperity. The thirst of education is palpable, and it is education that will make the difference whether the next generation grows up to be educated patriots or illiterate fighters.”
Since first helping build a school in Korphe, Pakistan, in 1996, Mortenson has gone on to establish more than 90 schools in rural and often volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which provide education to more than 34,000 children, including 24,000 girls.
Mortenson said addressing global illiteracy should be a national priority, just as it is a United Nation’s millennium goal. “We can drop bombs, we can build roads, we can put in electricity, but unless girls are educated, a society will never change,” he said.
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