Indigo-Daisy

I have to admit, that when I first picked up this book, it was because of the beautiful little girls on the cover. And to my delight, the contents of the book did the cover justice.

Three Cups of Tea turned out to be an inspiring story about the life and work of an ordinary man by the name of Greg Mortenson who has devoted his life to building schools in some of the most rural and often volatile regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

And when I say devoted his life, I mean literally living out of his car for months, to save money to return to a village, to fulfill a promise to build a school, so children wouldn’t have to sit outside in the cold, trying to learn on their own without a teacher.

This book made my heart long to be the type of peacemaker Greg Mortenson has become. Through his sincerity and devotion to the people living in these rural villages, he has become both a legend and a hero. They have learned to accept him as one of their own and respect and trust him as a leader. If only our own leaders would stand up and take notice, for what Greg Mortenson is doing by building these schools is actually laying out the groundwork towards long term peace for generations to come. These people see someone from the outside actually caring enough to travel halfway across the world, expecting nothing in return, to educate their children.

Although there were many obstacles along the way, they seemed to have only strengthened the relationships Greg has with these villagers. For example, one school required that he first build a bridge to get the supplies across. So not only did he need funding, engineering, time and supplies for the school, he also needed the same to build the bridge. And while Greg became frustrated about the timeline of the project not going as he had envisioned, the villagers had no sense of time and were just happy knowing that they would eventually have a school.

In the book, one of the village leaders sensed Greg’s frustration and pulled him aside to tell him a Baltistan proverb that went like this:

“The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time, you are an honored guest. The third time you become family.”

He told Greg that it was time he slow down and had his third cup of tea.

How beautiful is that! Where the boy next door can lay out the perfect road to peace, one school, one bridge and one cup of tea at a time.