Story Photos
 Pakistani girls crowd around Greg Mortenson, co-author of the book "Three Cups of Tea" in 2003. www.gregmortenson.com
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Three Cups of Tea
Sunday, February 24, 2008 6:47 AM PST
By Cathy Zimmerman
Printable version
E-mail this articleNancy Williamson of Clatskanie blurted out the two words everybody says first, including Tom Brokaw.
“One man,” Williamson said.
That’s what hooked her — “the challenges that this one man took upon himself, to accomplish the education of others,” said Williamson. The Cowlitz County Superior Court clerk read “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace One School at a Time” several years ago.
“What pushed him into this was failure,” Kelso High School senior Derrick Deen said. Greg
Mortenson “had always succeeded, but when he failed K2, it opened his eyes to see what he could accomplish doing something else.”
“Three Cups” tells the true story of Mortenson, a mountain climber who is forced to give up his ascent of the second-highest peak in the world, K2. Lost and rescued by Balti villagers, Mortenson goes on to build more than 50 schools in the rugged mountains that straddle Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The book has been on best-seller lists for at least a year. Locally, “Three Cups” has been winning hearts and minds in book clubs, at Kelso High School, at the Kalama Library, on the Lower Columbia College campus and among the organizers of this year’s Celebration of Literacy.
Lucky for local fans, the journalist who co-authored “Three Cups” lives in Portland and will make several local appearances March 3 as part of Altrusa’s annual Celebration of Literacy.
“It was one of the most inspirational books I’ve ever read,” Lower Columbia math instructor Carol Flakus said.
“I was impressed how one person can really change world events, just by determination and commitment,” the math teacher said. “What he was trying to accomplish in today’s materialistic society, while everybody else was trying to get ahead — he was not interested in material wealth.”
Flakus, 57, recounted how Mortenson almost bottomed out trying to build the first school. On a trip home to California, “everything that could go wrong went wrong,” she said. “His girlfriend left him, he lost his job, he had no money. Still, he stuck with it.”
Carolyn Reynoldson, 68, the retired office manager of Kalama Telephone Co, thinks the book may somewhat underplay Mortenson, “this stoppable person. Once he doesn’t make it to the top of the mountain, he meets people and forms a goal to build a school. And nothing stops him!”
“I wish I had as much energy as this guy does,” said Mike Phillips, 55, a Vancouver firefighter and paramedic, also of Kalama.
Phillips, midway through “Three Cups,” is enjoying it, he said. “I notice he started this in his late 30s. He had no kids and obligations. In reality, it doesn’t fit with most people’s lives. We all have to make a living, so we’re not able to sacrifice to the degree he has.”
Still, the book motivates him, said Phillips, who has eight children and 10 grand kids in the blended family he shares with his wife, Cowlitz County Deputy Pat Schallert.
“Everybody looks for something that you can look back at, to see you’ve really accomplished something for future generations. You may not have to go clear to the Himalayas, but you can still make a big difference where you live. .. You have to make that first step.”
Learning the language, finding the funds
Mortenson gained momentum when he came to the attention of other climbers and philanthropists who began to fund his dream. An Oprah Winfrey show and Parade magazine article boosted his profile and fed the foundation he started, Central Asia Institute.
But the core project — every dangerous, slogging, confounding turn — was Mortenson’s own.
He learned the language of the villagers.
He wore the shalwar, their article of clothing.
He sat around fires of yak dung and ate the local diet.
The son of missionaries to Africa, he learned to pray to Allah.
“He could make friends with people in countries we are at war with,” Nancy Williamson said. “He should be our ambassador or our president.”
“He didn’t take advantage of the culture or of the people,” said Katie Harrison, 18, of Kelso High School. “They let them into their lives because he wanted to help them.”
“With Mortenson, actions speak louder than words,” said Harrison’s classmate Deen. “He came on humble. He quietly appreciated what they did for him, and he made a promise and followed through.”
Keenan Harvey, 18, also of Kelso, said Mortenson understood the depth of tradition in the Pakistani villages, symbolized by sharing three cups of tea. “There, the meaning of things grows on you,” Harvey said. “Our traditions are not as powerful. We just eat and run.”
“The book gave me a new perspective of what we have,” said Madeline Gunter, 17, of KHS. “I have more insight into what people are actually going through in other counties.”
Among the book’s surprises is Mortenson’s commitment to education for girls — and how the villagers defend it.
“He’s doing a wonderful thing, considering what Muslim women go through,” said Kalama librarian Louise Thomas, who gave out 18 copies of the book. “I worry about his safety for doing what he’s doing for women,” Thomas said.
The book has gained political resonance, said Reynoldson, “because of what’s going on in Pakistan and Afghanistan. I pick up the paper and I look at articles and think about it. ... 9/11, the location, the fact that it’s such a poor, poor country. ...
“People want to shut their eyes, but it’s so close to us” in terms of our politics, she said.
George Dennis, 60, directs the College Preparation program at LCC. He said Mortenson’s story “brought into clearer focus that the American military isn’t fighting the common man in the Middle East. It’s fighting the extremists who despise the modern world.”
“So many people in Afghanistan and Iraq despise Americans because of Americans’ meddling in their affairs,” Dennis said.
“This book appealed to me because it’s a story of how one man made peace with people who have very different customs, values and mores. How amazing can this be? If one man can make a difference, why can’t I? ... Why can’t our government, with its vast resources, reach a similar good result?
Dennis worries, however, about how things are going since the book was published.
“I wonder how many of Mortenson’s schools for girls have been transformed into Wahhabi madrassas that brainwash young men to despise Westerners,” he said. “I hope that David Relin can respond to this question when he comes to town.”
Mary Putka of Kalama said “Three Cups” touches on universal human values.
“We all love our children and want the best for them, a life with opportunity and security that we may not have had,” Putka said. “One man is able to find that commonality and work to bring people together. It feels like a lesson for the world: Look at what we have in common, not how we are different.”
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