From the Publisher:
The inspiring account of one man’s campaign to build schools in the most dangerous,remote, and anti-American reaches of Asia
In 1993 Greg Mortenson was the exhausted survivor of a failed attempt to ascend K2, an American climbing bum wandering emaciated and lost through Pakistan’s Karakoram Himalaya. After he was taken in and nursed back to health by the people of an impoverished Pakistani village, Mortenson promised to return one day and build them a school. From that rash, earnest promise grew one of the most incredible humanitarian campaigns of our time—Greg Mortenson’s one-man mission to counteract extremism by building schools, especially for girls, throughout the breeding ground of the Taliban. Award-winning journalist David Oliver Relin has collaborated on this spellbinding account of Mortenson’s incredible accomplishments in a region where Americans are often feared and hated. In pursuit of his goal, Mortenson has survived kidnapping, fatwas issued by enraged mullahs, repeated death threats, and wrenching separations from his wife and children. But his success speaks for itself. At last count, his Central Asia Institute had built fifty-five schools. Three Cups of Tea is at once an unforgettable adventure and the inspiring true story of how one man really is changing the world—one school at a time. Annotation: Greg Mortenson recounts his experiences as co-founder of the Central Asia Institute, a nongovernmental organization that, since the 1990s, has done exemplary work in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where it has built and operated schools and improved public health. He tells how, by working side-by-side, the villagers and the staff of the CAI have overcome challenges, drawn on strengths, and worked toward breaking down the ignorance and prejudice that might otherwise have divided them. It has not been easy and the need is great, says Mortenson, and underscores the fact that the positive work of NGOs like the Central Asia Institute can go far in fighting terrorism.
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