The Importance of Tea

I just finished the book Three Cups of Tea - One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time. It was recommended to me by Progressive Pragmatist. What an inspiring read. I'm not a fast reader and I'm easily distracted so I've been reading this book for a while. I shouldn't be surprised that lots of people I know have been reading it, it is a bestseller after all!

While I was reading Greg Mortenson's story of his commitment to building schools in Pakistan, I got news of the death of Mike Robinson. Mike's son is a good friend of my daughter and I know the family through our high school band activities. Mike loved the Himalayas and died of high altitude pulmonary edema in Ladakh, India, where he had planned to celebrate his retirement from FEMA by hiking up there next to Earth's ceiling. He had read Three Cups of Tea before his trip. His wife Kathi gave copies of the book to people at Mike's memorial service. The Central Asia Institute is one of the organizations suggested for donations to honor Mike.
(The photo was taken at St. Anne's after the service.)

Greg Mortenson's belief is that education is the way to stop terrorism. And the way to provide education is to empower the people of remote communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan to build their own schools. The book is full of stories about overcoming incredible difficulties to get those schools built. The difficulties are not overcome by throwing money at a situation, although that does help! The most powerful tool in the process seems to be building a relationship before building a school. And the best way to build a relationship may just be to share some tea.

I like to think that St. Anne's mission trips are built on that spirit of relationship. I'll be thinking about how I can incorporate some of Greg Mortenson's ideas into my life. Get the book! If you order through here, Amazon donates money to the Central Asia Institute.