Three Cups Of Tea

Finally a good book! Lately I have been striking out when it came to my reading material. Nothing has stimulated my grey (gray) matter in quite some time. That was all changed when I picked up Three Cups of Tea from the best seller shelf (I am a sucker for the best seller section of the book store).Three Cups of Tea is the story of a man named Greg Mortenson. Greg went to Pakistan with the mission of climbing a mountain, K2, in his late sister's honor. Greg did not make it to the top of K2 and barely made it off the mountain with his life. He was nursed back to health in Pakistan as his ego and his body mended. Touched by the relentless kindness of the people, Greg wanted to make a difference in the lives of those that took such good care of him. He noticed that even though the people of this particular part of Pakistan lived primitively, they didn't need much because they had each other. Upon further inspection he did notice that the children of the village would meet on a particular patch of dirt and write their time tables in the dirt with a stick. These children did not have a teacher, a school house, or even school supplies but they showed up everyday because they wanted to learn.
Inspired by the children Greg promised to build them a school house. This was a very bold promise for a man that had nothing but a mere storage shed to return to in the United States. Greg's dedication to the children of this village resulted in a five room school house with supplies for the children to begin/continue their education. This was just the beginning of what unfolds to be an incredibly inspiring and fascinating story.

To date Greg has built over 50 schools in various parts of the world. He has come in contact with rebel groups that are against little girls going to school, are not accepting of help from Americans and various other issues. But no matter how high the odds stacked against Greg he always persevered and kept the well being of the children in the forefront of his mind.

I am really just skimming the surface of this book. I am failing to mention the romance, intrigue, danger and many other themes that run in and out of Mortenson's journeys. This is a really easy and quick read and I found myself not wanting to put it down many times. If you are needing a reminder of how resilient children are or how pure the human spirit can really be, this is the book for you.

If you can't tell already I absolutely recommend it!