Three Cups of Tea

"With the first cup of tea, you are a stranger. With the second, a friend. With the the third cup of tea, you are family." 

I don't know if you've heard of this book, but if you live in the States you probably have. It's the true story of Greg Mortenson, a climber who wanted to reach the summit of K2 (second largest mountain in the world) in Pakistan to place his late sister's amber necklace there to honour her memory. However, Greg gets into something totally different from climbing after he gets lost on his way down the mountain, and wanders into a village different from the one he intended to go to in order to go to a big city where he could catch his plane and go home.

Instead, Greg wanders into Korphe, where he sees the cheerfulness and hospitality of the people despite their poverty. But what reaches Greg's heart the most is the sight of the children of the village learning their lessons using dirt outdoors in the freezing weather. No books, no notebooks, no pens, no pencils, and no school.

So Greg decides to build one.

But Greg's not the only hero in this story. There are plenty of people in the United States, Afghanistan, Pakistan and one very wealthy Frenchman (the late Jean Hoerni) who helped complete all the schools and other projects that the CAI (the Central Asia Institute, founded by Greg and Jean Hoerni) built.

What made this book so inspirational for me (I read the Young Reader's Edition, LONG story) was that it was proof to those apathetic people who go around saying, "That's the way things are," that one person CAN change a lot. You don't do it on your own, but if you take the initiative, if you try really hard, if you're really serious and determined about what you want to do; then, God willing, no-one and nothing can stop you. Not kidnapping or terrorism or extremists from both sides or racists or haters. No-one and nothing.

It was also pretty interesting for me to read about Muslims who lived a totally different life from mine, but I did feel that the book showed some misconceptions about Islam. The part where Twaha, the chief of Korphe's son, ties something to Greg's backpack to keep him safe, that's not Islam. Islam doesn't have any of that superstitious stuff. If something happens to you, it happens because God wishes it so. If you want protection, ask God for it. A necklace or stone or umbrella or whatever won't give you that.

There's also the part where Greg is kidnapped and lies to a man, telling him that his wife is about to give birth to their son (when it's a daughter) to be released because he knows that "for a Muslim, having a son is a big deal" or words to that effect. That is just not true. If some people who just happen to be Muslims think that way, then it's their CULTURE's way of thinking, not Islam's. Islam STOPPED the Arabs who used to bury girls alive when they were born because of the "shame" of having a girl. It STOPPED that. It's AGAINST it. It values women. So you can see why I really don't like it when people confuse cultural ideas with Islam, especially people who are Muslims and are supposed to know better!

Despite all that, Three Cups of Tea is still a great inspirational story. You should definitely read it and check out the website.