Day 4 – Review of Three cups of tea and Stones into school

For the day 4 of the project 30days 30 books, I am here reviewing books that moved me and inspire me to work in education sector. This isn’t a review only for the books but also a summary for the good work that the author Greg Mortensen has taken up.

Three cups of tea was published in 2006 authored by Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin. The book gives an account of Greg Mortensen’s first visit to Korphe after a failed attempt to climb K2 and the journey of building schools that started from there in 1997 till late 2003.

The book that covers Mortensen’s experience and struggle while he started 55 schools in the remotest villages of Pakistan, areas that are most Taliban affected. The story travels between Pakistan and USA, the schools, water projects and fund raising activities. The story covers foundation of Pennies for Peace and Central Asia Institute and the constant fund crisis. It covers the appetite for education in villages of Pakistan, the resistance and the support from religious institutions, ambitions of girls of most suppressed communities. The book ends with Mortensen’s first encounter in Afghanistan.

The book can be overwhelming, inspiring and an eye opener for many. It brings us stories from remote villages, gives away tales of poor infrastructure and provides snapshots of activities and trainings in the name of Jihad through Relin’s interviews and observations.

The second book in the series – Stones into schools was published in year 2009 by Viking authored by Greg Mortensen picking up from where Three cups of tea let off from the activities in 2003. It traces works of CAI (now an established NGO) in North-east Afghanistan, areas that are snowcapped for most of the year and are so remote that they aren’t taken into account by the government. It also talks a great deal about education for girls. It accounts for team CAI’s work in Azad Kashmir/POK after the deadly earthquakes in 2005. The story travels over 5 years of CAI’s struggles and successes in building schools. The story is not as on-ground account as three cups of tea, and gives detailed account of fund-raising activities taken up by Mortensen. However, without fail, Mortensen has given the due limelight and credit to on-ground team and the activity which he didn’t even witness at times.

Both the books are stimulating and thought-provoking and rightly made to the Bestseller lists. Mortensen and Relin faced criticism on several accounts and there are several lawsuits filed against Mortensen for misleading information and misuse of funds from CAI. (Reference – Wikipedia)

However, as my personal opinion, the account maybe misleading at times, but the journey that Mortensen and CAI has covered is worth an acknowledgement and both the books are a wonderful memoir.

I rate the books 3.5 upon 5 (more for activities than the books). If you need inspiration, pick up these.

Read Day 3 review by Shrinidhi Hande - Day 3 - Book Review of "How I braved Anu aunty and co-founded million dollar company" reviewed by Shrinidhi Hande