‘Three
Cups of Tea’ selected for ASU’s 2009 summer reading
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.”
Greg Mortenson with Khanday
community school students in Hushe Valley in the Karakoram
mountains of Pakistan. Photo
submitted
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 Sept. 10 in the Holmes Center.
Emory Maiden said “Three Cups of Tea” impressed the
university’s Summer Reading Committee with both its message
and straight-forward style. Maiden, a professor in the Department
of English, chairs the committee.
“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,
which 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.
Mortenson has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by six
members of the U.S. Congress. 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. The award will be presented by Pakistan’s
president 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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