Three Cups of Tea: Story of Courage, Empathy, and the Will to Make a Change

iii Cups of Tea presents a funny story of courage, empathy and most importantly the go forth al unriv whollyed to help protrude and piss a transfer. It takes us by dint of with(predicate) and by means of the tour of a autoria have gotime that Greg Mortenson experienced while embarking through Pakistan and Afghanistan. His incredible character and motivation helped change the lives of thousands of Pakistani citizens, solely mostly those women and children. He accomplished this through stimulateing 141 prep atomic number 18s across Pakistan, as in his mind an com mand is the most important thing a psyche bed receive. Mortenson put tot eithery his cause needs and demands behind himself in order to fulfill those of new(prenominal)s.The road to in all told his success was non an easy star though. He had to over get on m all a(prenominal) a(prenominal) restraints in his final goal of educating a growing instauration uniform that of Pakistan. The author believes that the barriers to educating the little be social unblocks, financial issues and ethnic differences, this paper leave al unmatched prove that to be correct as I rush place highlight rough of the major all the samets and hassles he had to work though on his street to success. The Will to Make a modify In our knowledge domain of today numerous large number postulate to help fall out those in need and actually make a difference before they leave this ground.Its rattling nice to express that, and some(prenominal) race do but that a select fewer actually take action and do it. In my opinion a roach of hoi polloi precisely usurpt k promptly how to select worked. How can they, conscion equal integrity person, kickoff something immense sufficient to impact the lives of so legion(predicate) large number? So to get some perceptivity lets go can to the actually arising of Greg Mortensons pilgrimage to improving the world in his decla re itinerary. Mortenson came from a family that love to travel and as well had a huge passion for fate others. His upbringing was what authentically helped shape his character and personality. He was innate(p) in America, but when he was very spring chicken his family moved to Tanzania, Africa.His father, along with others helped to make water a teaching health check nubble in Kilimanjaro, and his mother helped to gird a rail in Moshi. His parents enceinte acts to help out others really influenced the counseling he looked at the world. Mortenson was a very active and adventurous person and had a passion for mountaineering. In 1993 he planned out a trek to climb the worlds sanction high peak, K2 in Kenya, along with 4 others. He planned this trip as a memorial to his sister who he had lost a few age earlier. aft(prenominal) spending 70 eld on the mountain they had to make a dramatic 72 hour breeding manner of speaking rescue for mavin of the other climbers.This to ok a correct deal out of Mortenson, physically and mentally which prevented him from devising it to the top. So he began his descent, but took a wrong moot along the way, acquiring lost from the group. He ended up in a wee and very poor colonization called Korphe. He was suffering from fatigue, dehydration, altitude unhealthiness and vertigo. The colonization slew took him in and did allthing they could to distribute for him and ensure his well being. As he recovered he was blown absent at their amazing hospitality and trusty-natured nature towards him. The small town had no school and the kids tried to learn by write in the dirt with sticks.Mortenson was shocked that these batch had no resources to learn and improve their quality of life, a thing that so legion(predicate) mountain take for granted impale in America. destination he regained forcefulness he asked to help out those who had so spectacularly helped him recover. Mortenson had freshets of medica l training and so he use what little supplies he had to treat as many concourse as he could. He left the village exit anything that could be helpful to these raft such as pens, flashlights, small containers and even any clothes he wasnt wearing. earlier he de distinguished to return floor he make a promise, one that would forever change his life.He promised the Balti pile of Korphe that he would realise them a school. In his eyes schooling is the large-scalegest factor in being sufficient to be no-hit. procreation is the stepping stone to improving your quality of life and being able to prosper. While doing inquiry for the country comparison assignment I noticed that the developed countries such as Canada, who had very high education judge for some(prenominal) genders, had less high percentages in categories such as infant mortality, population, meagerness level and literacy rate. I gestate that a big link between these things is educating women.Women are merely as capable in any position as men, they in force(p) need the analogous resources. So he to make water these batch the same opportunities that everyone was getting back in America. So false he case-hardened home, with intensity in his mind and hope in his discloset. His main(prenominal) goal was to naturalise and empower women. I hold that this is so important because passim this course we create learned many reasons wherefore educating women is so crucial for solvent many of the worlds big issues. For example we learned that educating women can be a big factor in reducing the conundrum of overpopulation.thither have been studies shown that if women in third world countries are educated they are less plausibly to have as many children and they will be more successful in the long precede. Mortenson wanted to give them a chance to learn and prosper in such a male prevail part of the world. Upon arriving home to California, Mortenson was brought to reality where he r eally realised what he had presumee. While on the shroud home he mat up empowered and erect for such a challenge but back in America he mat stuck. This is usually the part that most nation get to. They have some inspiration and great ideas to help but they dont know how to take action.Or they realise how such(prenominal) work and cash will be involved in the act upon of making a change. all in all that he owned to his name was a small storage locker with some possessions in it. He looked slightly at fancy business batch paseo down the streets, only concerned with when their conterminous Starbucks break would be. He was going through culture shock, jet lag and near plain confusion. How can these people theorize their problems are so important when people halfway across the world are struggling just to get a basic education? Mortenson suddenly felt lost in his previous home. He didnt fit in with these people.He wanted to be back in Afghanistan with, what was in his eye s, his real family. So to get thither he had to tackle one of his biggest obstacles, bills. He knew that he could get a job at the topical anaesthetic hospital, as he had healthcare degrees from university, but he knew that this would not be plentiful. Before he had left he roughly estimated how often times it the tout ensemble thing would cost. His estimate came to rough $12,000. How on earth was he sup pose(p) to come up with this money? So Mortenson came up with an idea, he would get sponsors. So branch he needed to get his message out and get eople mindful and fire. Being not very technologically advanced, even in the year 1993, he rented a typewriter to write out garner to some(prenominal) celebrated people explaining his accompaniment and asking for any grants. The only problem with typewriters is that if you make any mistakes you have to induct over. After 5 hours of work he had only spotless 4 successful letters. Since the letters would take him a lot longer that he had predicted he was saving in every aspect that he could. He lived out of his car and worked as many shifts as he could as a registered nurse at the local hospital ER.Whenever he wasnt running(a) he painstakingly typed out more letters and mailed them off to every important person he could think of. One day one of his problems was dramatically solved though, as he was introduced to a computer for the first time. He got a tutorial from a relay transmitter and was now was able to print out as many letters as he could think of people to send them to. slow things were looking up for him. His first donation came from students from his moms class who had arrange a penny fundraiser, bringing in $623. 45. Out of all 580 letters he had sent out he only got one reply, along with a curb for $100 and a wish good luck.Although he had stock a mates donations, Mortenson felt want he was making little to no progress. Other famous climbers had foundations that had people knocking on their doors to give them thousands of dollars. Things as well as got rocky as his online girlfriend was getting annoyed at all the nights spent in the car and the tightness of cash. His piazza dramatically changed one day as a friend of his suggested he visit a man named Dr. blue jean Hoerni, a successful physicist who had made quite the fortune in his work. Hoerni was a no nonsense man, who greatly frighten Mortenson.After a short telecommunicate call with Hoerni, Mortenson walked away $12,000 richer towards his school. So he sold the rest of his possessions to get tautologic cash for any miscalculations or emergencies. in the end he pain in force(p)y drove his car to the dealership and sold his home for the erstwhile(prenominal) year to buy a carpenters plane ticket. So removed he had completed phase one of his plan, raising enough funds. So as he boarded the plane he embarked on a journey that would forever change the course of his life. neer an Easy Route Greg arriv ed back in Afghanistan, fully determined and larny to start expression his school.He had exactly $12,800 dollars, $12,000 for the school and $800 to get him through while twist the school. He was on a inflexible budget, every rupee counted and anything wasted, in his mind, was just taking away books or pencils that he could buy for the students. Greg had some friends to help him was ready to jump right into it, but the way people operate there is such(prenominal) more relaxed than the fast paced American society. So after a couple long time he was in conclusion able to get started and gather materials. Mortenson wanted only the surmount materials for his school he didnt want it to crumble to the ground after a long hard winter.Although this became the first of many problems for him, this one being more of a social issue more than anything. mass who be bought from didnt know him or what he was doing. They just looked at him by his appearance, an American. To them he came fro m far away and did not know their culture and ways of life. So they could rip him off. Charge him high prices for chintzily made materials. Another problem with this part of the world is that everyone wants their share. If youre paying me to deport the wood for you I get to cover some. This frustrated Mortenson as he had worked so hard and was on a very tight budget.He needed to remind himself though that this way just the way their world worked. Mortenson really wanted to refer with these people and was eager to learn just about their culture and religious beliefs. Religion plays a huge role in the universal lives of Muslims. They have several prayer times end-to-end the day where the full-page metropolis stops, no matter where they are, to pray. Mortenson knew this could be a touchy subject, but he finally asked one of his friends to show him how to pray. He struggled through it, not fully determineing the process but hoped to improve and really occupy into their cultu re.He wanted to be regard and wanted to be able to understand these people. Finally about a hebdomad after arriving, Mortenson was finally ready with all his materials to make the 3 day trek to the small, isolated village of Korphe to build his school. After purchasing all his materials his financial situation was even lower than he had expected, which posed as a possible big problem, leaving small room for error. The journey to Korphe was in itself a whole story. Upon arriving in Korphe he was very considerately greeted by hundreds of village people. They were surprised yet ingenious to see him.Many climbers come through their villages and make promises to them that rarely get fulfilled. hither before them was Greg, who was ready to build them a school, to give them the gift of education. As he discussed plans with the village leaders, he was presented with what would be the biggest problem to date. They wanted the school to be construct inside the village of Korphe. Mortenson had planned for it to be built just outside the village as the only way into the village was across a small rachitic pulley system that went over a large ravine with the Braldu River running through it at the bottom.The village leaders thought it would be most beneficial for them to be able to be connected with the outside world if they were to build a link up, and that way they would also be able to transport all the materials across the bridge into the village. This would cause Mortenson a lot more work and a lot more funding. He also agreed that it would be a good idea to connect them with the outside world a bit more though, as they were very isolated. Almost a full year later Mortenson had finally succeeded in building a school, and a bridge for the village of Korphe. He felt amazing.He really knew how much this would help their people and how much it would impact their lives. Mortenson didnt want to stop here though. So with the financial help of his close friend Jean Hoerni he was able to start a foundation called Central Asia Institute or CAI. Hoerni gave him a large donation to start off, but that wouldnt last forever. So whenever Mortenson was back in America he would travel around to give presentations in hopes of getting some donations. This was another barrier for him, as it was difficult to get people interested and he has quite the forethought of public speaking.Sometimes he would be in a venue with cholecalciferol chairs set up and he would be presenting to only 3 people. It became even more difficult to get people interested after 9/11 happened. No one wanted to help him. Everyone questioned why he wanted to help these people. Mortenson received hate letters and even conclusion threats constantly. This greatly frustrated him as they didnt know the individual hardworking and kind people that he knew. They were judging a whole population off one extremist group. It was unfair to these people who did nonentity wrong. He lost a lot of the su pport that he previously had from his own country.This was a huge social issue for him as now his own people didnt understand what he was doing. tied(p) today in 2013, 12 days after the 9/11 attacks people still judge Islamic people and look down upon them. I think when most people try out the term terrorist the associate it with an Islamic person, which is extremely anti-Semite(a) and unfair towards these people. What Mortenson was able to realize was that at the end of the day, they are just the same as us. They want the best for their kids. They want to enjoy life, family and friends. Yes, there are cultural differences but when it comes down to it we are all humans on the same Earth.There are extremist groups in any culture, and it is unjust to blame a whole society of people for a small groups actions. Regardless of this Mortenson was still able to go along going with his projects in Pakistan and was building schools at a very fast rate. population were contacting him fro m all over wanting him to build schools in their villages. Along with building schools he also built community centers for people to go, with resources like sports and libraries. He gave special donations to genuine people who contacted him personally who wanted money for further studies.In one exceptional case he funded a young woman who went on to do a 4 month medical course. With this she was able to return to her village and help out so many people. heap there no longer had to worry of termination from something as small as a cold. The women even said that there is not a single person in the area that believes that women should not be educated. mickle were starting to realize the importance and great benefits of educating women. She couldnt believe the progress and betterment it had made for her own life and the lives of so many people she was able to nevertheless because of it.She wants to pass on her training and education to other women in hope that it can benefit them as well. There were a couple personal stories like this throughout the story which gave a great military position on the actual effect of Mortensons work and how it really helped. His project to educate the poor was really working, and had successful examples of people that it helped out significantly. In the long run I think that what Mortenson is doing can greatly help out their economy. He has set them on a pathway for a more bright and prosperous next by giving them so many resources to succeed.Impact for the Future Greg Mortenson had so far successfully built 141 schools across Pakistan. He started as a small shaping of one person typing out letters in hopes to get donations and build one school. That has turned into so much more. The impact that he has made is just incredible. Without him so many kids would grow up with no bright future and quick in extreme levels of poverty. He gave them use of goods and services and reason to keep going. His motivation and great attitu de can serve as an inspiration everyone. He encountered so many barriers, whether it be social, financial, governmental or religious.Mortenson did so much more than just build schools. He really changed the opinions of so many Pakistani people. Before he came, they had a preconceived idea of Americans. In a country so corrupt like Pakistan the people have little opportunities to learn. roughly people, especially in rural areas dont have access to the net income or incoming media. All their beliefs come from word of mouth, and higher powers within their government. The Taliban gave a horrible impression of Americans. They painted a picture of evil people who were person that they should hate.The people believed them, having no other sources for information. When Mortenson first came in, there were many social and political barriers he had to overcome. He was even captured at one point and held hostage for several days before being released. People saw him and immediately didnt li ke him. They judged him on the sole fact of what he looked like, an American. After a while, when word got around of what he was doing, this slowly started to change. People got construction of the fact than an American was here, in their own country to help them out. This confused them.Werent Americans bad? Slowly their opinions were changed. The Taliban wasnt building schools for them and educating their people. All they were doing was causing more scrap and stress to their lives. The American was here helping them and improving their lives. People gained more note for Americans and less for the corrupt power that was doing postal code for them. He changed the lives of many, changed their impressions and gave people hope. He managed his whole foundation with very little help. He didnt have a secretarial assistant for the longest time, and he made all arrangements himself.He has almost single hands down created a movement for educating and inspiring people in such a corrupt, evolution nation. He is a true scrapper of our century. Conclusion Reading the novel Three Cups of Tea has really given me a better perspective on unalike types of culture and ways of life. I ascertain more educated and enlightened on many topics now. I feel as though I have a much better understand on many of the conflicts occurring in the Middle East. It really gave an unbiased view rather than what we hear from the media daily. I feel as though I really know both sides of the story now when I hear opposite stories published in the news.Greg Mortenson was weather to publish his story, but Im glad that he did as it is an incredible one that should be praised. I would even go so far as to say that I think he would be a deserving prospect of a Nobel Peace Prize. Throughout interpreting the novel and writing the report I was able to connect it to many stories we read about in class and diverse discussions that we had. I could compare it to many different social, political, eco nomic and environmental issues that occurred throughout the novel. It was interest to get an insider view on their ways of life and how they live their daily lives.