02 September 2009

Three Cups of Tea reading guide

OVERVIEW OF TEXT

· In Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time, Greg Mortenson, and journalist David Oliver Relin, recount the journey that led Mortenson from a failed 1993 attempt to climb Pakistan's K2, the world's second highest mountain.

· Dangerously ill when he finished his climb in 1993, Mortenson was sheltered for seven weeks by the small Pakistani village of Korphe. In return, he promised to build the impoverished town's first school

· The project grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan.

· Mortenson replaced ‘guns with pencils, rhetoric with reading’ to ‘promote peace with books, not bombs, and successfully bring education and hope to remote communities in central Asia’ [taken from the authors’ website].

· Book includes portraits of the village elders, con artists, philanthropists, Mujahedeen, Taliban officials, ambitious school girls

· Authors argue that the U.S. must fight Islamic extremism in the region through collaborative efforts to alleviate poverty and improve access to education, especially for girls.

· Book chronicles how some failures lead to success

INTRODUCTION

· Has anyone ever climbed a mountain? What is the experience like? What do you recall about Mortenson’s climb in what came to be a failed attempt of K2 (p. 7-8, 10-11, 13, 15, 17)
· Description of Korphe (intro., pp. 17-24) (specific, p. 24, last paragraph)
· Epigrammatic quote: "Progress and Perfection” (p. 27), how it relates to the chapter, how it relates to the book itself.
· Medical issues abound among the Balti people (p. 30)
· The visit to the Korphe School with Haji Ali (p. 31, bottom)
· Cultural differences as wrap-up to introduction


MORTENSON’S CHARACTER

After Haji Ali’s family saves Greg’s life, he reflects that he could never “imagine discharging the debt he felt to his hosts in Korphe” (p. 30). What is it about Mortenson’s character in which “debts” are paramount? Why do you think that Mortenson was compelled to return to the region again and again over the decade span of the text?

[Looking back to Mortenson’s cultural African childhood] Mortenson is a mountain climber turned humanitarian. He is a school builder for two countries in the Mideast, each of which has been labeled as enemy to the U.S. However, looking back, it’s clear that his sense of mission is rooted in his childhood, the values of his parents, and his relationship with his sister Christa. How do you think Mortenson's childhood shaped him? (p. 34 – 46)

Discuss the various facets of Mortenson’s character—the freewheeling mountain climber, expedition medic (p. 45), the ER nurse, the devoted son and brother, and the leader of a humanitarian cause.

To what extent has his father been a role model for the work he had done? [i.e. “listener” (p. 37); at hospital ribbon cutting, Dempsey wore a “traditional black Tanzanian outfit” (p. 38); Dempsey turned the hospital over to the local people: “It’s your country. It’s your hospital” (p. 38); “Dempsey was often away for months at a time, recruiting founds and qualified hospital staff in Europe and America” (p. 37)]

To what extent is Mortenson an anti-hero? “wrestled with sleep” (p. 42); “never been on time in his life” (p. 39); had a “mother’s highly structured home, then the army, college, and graduate school” (p. 44) but was also “meaninglessly adrift” (p. 45).

There is a telling passage about Mortenson’s change of direction at the start of the book: “One evening, he went to bed by a yak dung fire a mountaineer who’d lost his way, and one morning, by the time he’d shared a pot of butter tea with his hosts and laced up his boots, he’d become a humanitarian who’d found a meaningful path to follow for the rest of his life” (p. 2). What made Mortenson particularly ready for such a transformation? How do individuals transform their lives? What mechanisms are necessary for transformations to occur? [i.e. he says about Mother Theresa: “Since I was a little boy she’d been on e of my heroes” (p. 235)

Has anything comparable to Mortenson’s transformation happened in your own life?

Looking at Mortenson as an adult, what aspects of his personality have made him able to succeed so well in his efforts in Pakistan? [i.e. “fit fm football and high school track team” (p. 40); “training as a medic” in Army (p. 40); “University of South Dakota” due to its more “diverse” campus (p. 41); liked to “catch free military flights with black soldiers” and “found it and the company exhilarating” (p. 40); “every rupee counted” in ways that demonstrate how selfless and frugal he is (p. 57); wears the shalwar kamiz; refuses to tell the CIA agents where the “Wahhabi madrassas” are (p. 295).]

BALTI CULTURE

The authors write that “the Balti held the key to a kind of uncomplicated happiness that was disappearing in the developing world” (p. ?). This peaceful simplicity of life seems to be part of what attracts Mortenson to the villagers. Discuss the pros and cons of bringing “civilization” to the mountain community. [i.e. “the village of Korphe, where the population survived through the interminable winter months in the basement of their stone and mud homes, huddled with their animals around smoldering yak dung fires, in their one and only set of clothing” (p. 62); interesting story of the high-altitude trek to hunt the ibex (pp. 114-119)]

The Balti people are fierce yet extremely hospitable, kind yet rigid, determined to better themselves yet stuck in the past. Discuss your reactions to them and the other groups that Mortenson tries to help.

EDUCATION

Why do you think the villagers in Korphe were so excited about getting their own school? What is unique about having a school, as opposed to other things Mortenson could have built, like a hospital or community center?

It seems as if everywhere Mortenson turns he has to deal with politics. What were some of the political obstacles (local, regional, global) he had to overcome? What does his experience tell us about the relationship between politics and education? [people seem to respond to him in a way that informs us that people respond to others when they are doing good deeds, such as he received “free tutorials until.. computer literate” (p. 50); also, he is multilingual: “Swahili” (p. 42), Farci, etc.

Epigram, “Red Velvet Box” (p. 198), middle, “foremost Shia clerics in northern Pakistan” create an edict as to whether they, the Supreme Council, will allows the CAI schools to continue, or whether “the school recruit for Christianity” and “promote Western-style licentiousness” (p. 198).

RELIGION AND CULTURE

· Through Mortenson’s experiences we get a glimpse into the world of Islam. Mortenson participates in rituals embedded with Islam. How was this awareness of the essence of Islam critical to the success of his (and the Central Asian Institute) programs? [i.e. His Lutheran missionary parents wore “their faith lightly” and the Tanzanian home was “more of a community than a religious center” (p. 36); “’Will you show me how to pray? Mortenson asks Manzoor as they begin the journey to build the first school (p. 62)’ “inshallah” (p. 240).]

· What have you learned about Islam by reading Three Cups of Tea?

· There is a danger in imposing our own solutions to the problems faced by other cultures and societies. How was Greg Mortenson able to avoid this trap? What about his background made him sensitive to the specific needs of those he encountered in Pakistan and Afghanistan?

EDUCATION OF GIRLS

· What does Three Cups of Tea tell us about the status of women in this region of the world? Why does Mortenson feel the education of girls is so important? How will it improve their status? Is the same dynamic true in our culture?

At the beginning of the chapter titled, “580 Letters, One Check,” Mortenson has tremendous difficulty getting any donations for his idea to build a school in Korphe. At his mother, Jerene’s elementary school, “The kids got it right away. When they say the pictures, they couldn’t believe that there was a place where children sat outside in cold weather and tried to hold classes without teachers” (p. 52). This is the beginning of the foundation known as Pennies for Education. Why do you think it is that children understood the project before adults did? [i.e. the one check that he did get that made a difference is from Dr. Jean Hoerni, $12,000]: show The two children's books: one for young adults (The Young Reader’s Edition) and the picture book (Listen to the Wind)

· Uzra Faiad is principal of the Dirkhani School, where forty-five hundred students are educated (p. 288); she says that “I’m a conservative lady…” and [the burka] suits me. Also, I feel safer in it. In fact, I insist that all my lady teachers wear the burka in the bazaar. We don’t want to give anyone an excuse to interfere with our girls’ studies” (p. 289). Do you agree with the womens’ concessions to wear the burka as part of Islamic tradition in order to teach girls?

· At the heart of Three Cups of Tea is a simple message: education is important. Reflect on your own education to this point. How has it mattered to you? What might your future be like if you were limited to the education available to most in Pakistan and Afghanistan? Why is higher education – especially in our society – important?

METAPHORS

How is building schools in Pakistan similar to climbing a mountain? What did Mortenson learn from his failed attempt to summit K2?

References to paradise run throughout the book—Mortenson’s childhood home in Tanzania (p. 36), the mountain scenery, even Berkeley, California, are all referred to as “paradise.” Discuss the concept of paradise, lost and regained, and how it influences Mortenson’s mission.

There are several times in the book when things seem to serendipitously come together for Mortenson -- like stumbling upon Korphe when he was lost and receiving a $20,000 donation from an audience of two. How do the losses make Mortenson stronger? Is this true of most/ all humans?

Mortenson hits many bumps in the road—he’s broke, his girlfriend dumps him, he is forced to build a bridge before he can build the school (p. 10), his health suffers, and he drives his family crazy. Discuss his repeated brushes with failure and how they influenced your opinion of Mortenson and his efforts. [i.e. his initial failure, upon coming to U.S. to attend school, to acclimate to the student body (p. 39).]

· The Parade article: Three Cups of Tea is the chronicle of one person’s failure that ultimately led to success. Think about a time in your life when you experienced adversity. How did you deal with it? How can failure lead to success?

What risks has Mortenson taken? Do you think he has been brave or foolish? W talked earlier about his feeling of “indebtedness.” In your opinion, does he repay his debt by the end of the book?

VISIONS OF PEACE

Did the book change your views toward Islam or Muslims? Consider the cleric Syed Abbas, and also the cleric who called a fatwa on Mortenson. Syed Abbas implores Americans to “look into our hearts and see that the great majority of us are not terrorists, but good and simple people” (p. 257). Discuss this statement. Has the book inspired you to learn more about the region?

[Tone shift in text after attacks on U.S.] “I expected something like this from an ignorant village mullah, but to get those kinds of letters from my fellow Americans made me wonder whether I should just give up” (p. ?) Mortenson remarked after he started getting hate mail in the wake of September 11. What was your reaction to the letters Mortenson received? [i.e. CIA agents interrogate him on pp. 270-272]

· "The Enemy is Ignorance" (p. 297), end. The hardcover version of the subtitle to Three Cups of Tea was “One Man’s Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations … One School at a Time,” yet the authors repeatedly requested Penguin Books to change the paperback version to “One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time.” Regardless of which you think is the more accurate subtitle, what – according to Three Cups of Tea – is the relationship between education and the war against terrorism? What might be the implications for current U.S. policy? [i.e. Jon Krakauer throws his support to Mortenson and reads William Butler Keats’ “The Second Coming (p. 276).

· What would be the effects around the world if the U.S. interventions were directed strictly – or even partially --- toward non-military purposes?

CAN INDIVIDUALS MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

· According to Three Cups of Tea, how does Mortenson characterize the concept of community? What is the relationship of the individual to his sense of community? As an individual, what specific steps might you be willing to take to meet the challenges posed by Three Cups of Tea? In other words, what next steps are you willing to take?

At the heart of the book is a powerful but simple political message: we each as individuals have the power to change the world, one cup of tea at a time. Yet the book powerfully dramatizes the obstacles in the way of this philosophy: bloody wars waged by huge armies, prejudice, religious extremism, cultural barriers. What do you think of the “one cup of tea at a time” philosophy? Do you think Mortenson’s vision can work for lasting and meaningful change?

Have you ever known anyone like Mortenson? Have you ever had the experience of making a difference yourself through acts of generosity, aid, or leadership?

Did Three Cups of Tea challenge you to make more of a positive difference in the world?

OUR CHANGING VIEWS

Much of the book is a meditation on what it means to be a foreigner assimilating with another culture. Discuss your own experiences with foreign cultures—things that you have learned, mistakes you have made, misunderstandings you have endured.

What did you learn about the culture in Northern Pakistan? Did anything surprise you?

After reading Three Cups of Tea, are you optimistic about peace in Pakistan and Afghanistan?

Research resources
Penguin Group reading guide
Publisher’s Weekly review
www.threecupsoftea.com

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