My post about this book will be a little different from my other book blurbs. I'm going to start with the blurb, and add my thoughts at the bottom:
"In 1993 Mortenson was descending from his failed attempt to reach the peak of K2, the world’s second highest mountain. Exhausted and disoriented, he wandered away from his group into the most desolate reaches of northern Pakistan. Alone, without food, water, or shelter he eventually stumbled into an impoverished Pakistani village where he was nursed back to health.
While recovering he observed the village’s 84 children sitting outdoors, scratching their lessons in the dirt with sticks. The village was so poor that it could not afford the $1-a-day salary to hire a teacher. When he left the village, he promised that he would return to build them a school.
From that rash, heartfelt promise grew one of the most incredible humanitarian campaigns of our time: Greg Mortenson’s one-man mission to counteract extremism and terrorism by building schools—especially for girls—throughout the breeding ground of the Taliban.
Mortenson had no reason to believe he could fulfill his promise. In an early effort to raise money he wrote letters to 580 celebrities, businessmen, and other prominent Americans. His only reply was a $100 check from NBC’s Tom Brokaw. Selling everything he owned, he still only raised $2,000. But his luck began to change when a group of elementary school children in River Falls, Wisconsin, donated $623 in pennies, thereby inspiring adults to take his cause more seriously. Twelve years later he’s built fifty-five schools.
Mortenson and award-winning journalist David Oliver Relin have written a spellbinding account of his incredible accomplishments in a region where Americans are feared and hated. In pursuit of his goal, Mortenson has survived an armed kidnapping, fatwas issued by enraged mullahs, repeated death threats, and wrenching separations from his wife and children. Yet his success speaks for itself. This year the schools will educate 24,000 children."
***
This book had me enthralled from the very beginning. Greg's story is simply amazing. The way he started on this journey to begin with, and the way he struggled to get that first school built, was inspiring. While at first I really had to concentrate to keep the foreign names and cities straight (I bookmarked the map near the front for easy reference), it was worth it. The people and culture of Pakistan are fascinating. And not at all what I expected. That story alone makes the book worth reading.
Near the end of the book, as the events surrounding September 11 take center stage, I began to see the connection between what Greg's doing and the war on terror. While he had spent several hard years just to get a handful of schools going, the Taliban (heavily funded by Saudi oil) sprouted up dozens upon dozens of their own "schools" in the course of just one year. These madrassas were everywhere, teaching extremist doctrine to poor people who had literally no other options or resources.
The madrassas are successful because the students are so often people with zero education, and therefore easily led down the Taliban's path. To call these madrassas a "school" is a stretch. The Taliban often forbids reading any book except the Koran. When the Taliban took over Afghanistan before 9/11, they held public book burnings. Even the medical school in the capital city of Kabul was forbidden textbooks, and Taliban guards monitored classrooms to make sure they did not so much as put anatomical drawings on the chalkboard.
These medical students in Afghanistan realized what was happening, and resented it. But the impoverished young men from the rural villages of Pakistan, with little or no education, were easy targets for the Taliban. The effects of their "schooling" continues to this day, to everyone's detriment. While reading about the events which took place in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the year leading up to 9/11, it was easy to see the critical importance of education for these poor communities. (For more information, the website
http://www.threecupsoftea.com/ is a great site to visit, as well as the
Central Asia Institute, which is the organization Greg operates to get these schools built.)
The majority of the book, however, focuses on the small scale events, long before 9/11 ever took place. I came to have such an affection for the Americans and Pakistanis who made the dream of these schools a reality.
This book touched me on so many different levels. It made me want to do more, somehow, for this world I live in. I'm still struggling to figure out what that means for a stay-at-home mom of three. Not all of us can be Greg Mortenson. But I don't believe we have to be. I think we're each supposed to figure out what
we are meant to do. As I think about what it took to get those schools built, I realize that aid came from many people, in ways both large and small. And it was all needed. I think that's probably true for any humanitarian effort, whether it be building schools in Pakistan or serving the needy in our own communities. Something quoted in the book comes to mind:
"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop." - Mother Teresa
No one can fill the ocean on their own, not even Greg Mortenson. So what is
my drop supposed to be? I believe raising my boys is the number one thing I can do so they can go out into the world and be productive citizens. But is there something else I should be doing? If there is, wouldn't it teach my children to think beyond themselves as well? (Greg Mortenson's parents were humanitarians too.)
I don't think I have to do anything "grand," but at the same time it's so easy to do nothing because what we
can do feels too small to make a difference. How do I hang onto this fire, and turn it into action?
Here's another quote from the book that makes me think:
"When your heart speaks, take good notes."
Judith Campbell
What is my heart telling me?
"Hmmm... what will my wish be?"
