Greg Mortenson's Blog

Greg Mortenson's Response to Allegations on CBS

2011-04-20T00:19:00.001-06:00

Important Messages from Central Asia Institute
For further questions, concerns and inquires, please email media@ikat.org.

Greg Mortenson: A Face of America Commentary (July 2010)

2010-07-05T17:24:00.001-06:00

Greg Mortenson: A Face of America Commentary

By Tony Mussari
Copyright 2010
The Face of America Project
Mussari-Loftus Associates, LTD

The seats in the Kirby Theater are empty. The room is dark, the books, pictures, graphics and all the other external trappings of Greg Mortenson’s visit are packed away. The letters on the marquis announce another event, but the memory of this magical moment will forever be recorded in the hearts and souls of the 1,800 people who filled the Kirby Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday last.

Among those memories are ten statements and five quotations that, if applied, can change our world for the better:

Use books not bullets to bring peace to our world;

click here for complete article

3 Cups of Tea With Greg Mortenson (05/08/10)

2010-05-10T22:42:00.000-06:00

SBMS Teen Press

A blog by the Santa Barbara Middle School Teen Press

May 8th, 2010

UCSB Arts and Lectures and Direct Relief International treated Santa Barbara to yet another inspirational evening this week. Greg Mortenson, peacebuilder and author of Three Cups of Tea and Stones Into Schools overflowed the Direct Relief warehouse and the Arlington Theater, sharing his vision for peace in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the world.With palettes of aid wrapped and ready for far off neighbors their backdrop, theSanta Barbara Middle School Teen Press, working with Santa Barbara Kids Magazine, shared three cups of tea with Greg, shoes off, on the floor of the Direct Relief warehouse.

For complete article, please <click here>

Greg Mortenson on Canada's # 1 Late Night Show (01/20/10)

2010-01-24T17:07:00.002-07:00

Greg Mortenson on Canada's # 1 Late Night Show

'The Hour' with CBC TV host George Stroumboulopoulos

Wednesday, January 20, 2010,

Ten minute video, click below:

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Shows/The_Hour/ID=1393356940

Philadelphia Inquirer (01/17/10)

2010-01-20T18:33:00.004-07:00

Philadelphia Inquirer

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Worldview: A surge in schools

A best seller describes a compelling way to build ties with Afghanistan.

By Trudy Rubin

Readers often ask me if I've read Three Cups of Tea, the best seller by a self-styled "crazy American" named Greg Mortenson. The book describes how he came to build girls' schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Often the questioners are quite passionate. This is no surprise, since Three Cups of Tea has topped the charts for three years, Mortenson's lectures pack huge halls, and America's top military brass frequently cite the book. Nearly four million copies have been sold, in 41 countries, and of the 131 schools that Greg's Central Asia Institute has built, none has been shut down by the Taliban . . .

read on click here:

www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/trudy_rubin/20100117_Worldview__A_surge_in_schools.html

Bill Moyer's Journal, PBS TV 30" feature with Greg Mortenson (01/15/10)

2010-01-17T10:39:00.004-07:00

Bill Moyer's Journal
PBS TV 30" feature with Greg Mortenson
Sunday, January 15, 2010

Click link below
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01152010/watch2.html

Garrison Keilor discusess Greg Mortenson's birthday and his hew book Stones into Stones on Writer's Almanac NPR (12/27/09)

2009-12-29T00:55:00.000-07:00

The inspiring sequel to "Three Cups of Tea" ... (12/21/09)

2009-12-22T09:17:00.000-07:00

Stones Into Schools

The inspiring sequel to "Three Cups of Tea" follows Greg Mortenson into remote Afghanistan where he continues his quest to build schools.

By Marilyn Gardner

Monday, December 21, 2009

Until this year, children living in one of the remotest corners of eastern Afghanistan could only dream of getting an education. No schools existed to nourish hungry young minds. But now, a simple wooden structure in the heart of a valley stands as a beacon of hope for a brighter future . . . Perched at an altitude of 12,480 feet, this schoolhouse sits on the “roof of the world,” where transporting construction materials is virtually impossible. It represents one of the proudest achievements of Greg Mortenson, an American mountaineer-turned-humanitarian. His passion for educating girls has led to the building of 131 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, often against daunting odds and amid considerable danger . . .

Greg visits students at Bosque School - Alburquerque NM (12/08/09)

2009-12-09T11:12:00.002-07:00

Greg Mortenson greets students at Bosque School, Alburquerque NM on Dec 8th, 2009. Photo: Jeff McMillan. Greg visits over 200 schools a year in the U.S., from public to private, and rural and urban schools, and says it is his favorite thing to do, and is very inspired by children.

To check out Greg's book tour, visit:
www.stonesintoschools.com/events/calendar

Fighting Terrorism With Schools (11/22/09)

2009-11-22T10:43:00.003-07:00

PARADE Magazine,

Sunday, November 22, 2009

By Greg Mortenson

Greg Mortenson featured in PARADE Magazine, Sunday, 22, 2009 discusses his 17 years effort to promote literacy and education for girls in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan, the progress of the U.S. military to listen more, build relationships and empower the elders in the AF-Pak region, and announces the release of his new book, Stones Into Schools (Viking) on December 1st, 2009. Excerpts below.

. . Young women are the developing world’s greatest agents of progress. Just one year of schooling will dramatically raise a girl’s later economic prospects, and where girls get to fifth grade, birth rates and infant mortality plunge. Teaching girls to read and write reduces the ignorance and poverty that fuel religious extremism and lays a groundwork for prosperity and peace . . .

. . . To succeed as nations, Pakistan and Afghanistan require the full engagement of their women. But not just their women. In every village in which CAI operates, we seek the support of local religious leaders and elders . .

For full article, click to www.parade.com/news/2009/11/22-fighting-terrorism-with-schools.html

Greg Mortenson on CBS WISH 9 TV (11/02/09)

2009-11-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

Greg Mortenson on CBS WISH 9 TV, Indianapolis, IN
Monday, November 2, 2009

Click Here for the Video

AMERICA'S BEST TWENTY LEADERS (10/22/09)

2009-10-29T14:04:00.004-06:00

US News & World Report

AMERICA'S BEST TWENTY LEADERS

October 22, 2009

Greg Mortenson: Promotes Peace With Girls Education

Greg Mortenson, coauthor of the wildly successful book Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace.. . One School at a Time, can recall the precise moment he knew that he had created a movement. A girls' school that Mortenson helped to open south of Kabul, Afghanistan, had been attacked by the Taliban in the summer of 2007 . . .

Read on <click here>

A Peace Prize to Share (10/15/09)

2009-10-15T13:49:00.004-06:00

Greg Mortenson with Jafarabad community
schoolgirls in northern Pakistan in 2003.
(Courtesy Greg Mortenson -- Central Asia Institute)

A Peace Prize to Share
By Tom Brokaw
Thursday, October 15, 2009

In one way or another, President Obama's critics will dog him all the way to Oslo for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, and even his admirers will continue to have doubts about his accomplishments if not his promise.

He's getting a lot of advice on how to handle the moment when he accepts the prize, so here's an idea that may lift this discussion out of the partisan soup that is now the main course on our national agenda, whatever the issue.

The president should invite a high-profile and wide-ranging delegation of interests to accompany him. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen, representing diplomacy and arms in pursuit of peace. Greg Mortenson, the author of "Three Cups of Tea," who has spent years working for education and literacy (especially for girls) in mountainous parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Field representatives from organizations such as Refugees International, the International Rescue Committee (where I am a volunteer overseer), CARE, Save the Children and other groups doing the hard work of caring for the victims of war. Bill and Melinda Gates should be in his delegation, as well as Republican Sam Brownback, the senator from Kansas, who's been a tireless advocate of greater U.S. involvement to stop the genocide in Sudan.

Tom Brokaw is a special correspondent and former "Nightly News" anchor for NBC.

complete article can be found under: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/14/AR2009101402966.html

Teacher, Can We Go Now? NO (07/19/09)

2009-07-21T11:00:00.004-06:00

Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman Joint Chiefs Of Staff and Greg Mortenson in Pushgur village, Afghanistan, July 15, 2009

NEW YORK TIMES
Sunday, July 19, 2009
By Thomas Freidman
Teacher, Can We Go Now? NO

I confess, I find it hard to come to Afghanistan and not ask: Why are we here? Who cares about the Taliban? Al Qaeda is gone. And if its leaders come back, well, that’s why God created cruise missiles.

But every time I start writing that column, something stills my hand. This week it was something very powerful. I watched Greg Mortenson, the famed author of “Three Cups of Tea,” open one of his schools for girls in this remote Afghan village in the Hindu Kush mountains. I must say, after witnessing the delight in the faces of those little Afghan girls crowded three to a desk waiting to learn, I found it very hard to write, “Let’s just get out of here.” . . .

Which is why it was no accident that Adm. Mike Mullen, the U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — spent half a day in order to reach Mortenson’s newest school and cut the ribbon . . . .

Read more at:
www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/opinion/19friedman.html

Good Housekeeping (June 2009)

2009-07-05T15:58:00.002-06:00

Good Housekeeping

June 2009

Teach a Girl, Change the World

By Judith Stone

Together, a visionary dad and his intrepid daughter are on a mission to help needy kids in a troubled part of the globe — one penny at a time. Before Greg Mortenson reveals the most powerful piece of advice ever imparted to him by his 12-year-old daughter, Amira, he wants to chat a bit about whether or not he's a bad dad.

For more click here . . .

For complete article click here:

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/family/real/education-for-girls

Sailors & U.S. Marines hear unique viewpoint from best-selling author (06/26/09)

2009-07-05T15:53:00.004-06:00

NAVY COMPASS
Sailors & U.S. Marines hear unique viewpoint from best-selling author

By MCC Bill Gowdy

Friday, 26 June 2009

SAN DIEGO (June 25, 2009)-- Individual Augmentee (IA) and Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) Support Assignment (GSA) sailors currently assigned to the Navy Mobilization and Processing Site (NMPS) at Naval Base San Diego (NBSD) were treated to a presentation on life in the rural hinterlands of Afghanistan and an interesting perspective on the war by a best-selling author.

Greg Mortenson, author of the N.Y. Times best-seller Three Cups of Tea, offered stories of his experiences and unique views that are increasingly being shared by senior military leaders.

Many of his views run counter to what is considered conventional wisdom.

'Tea' author speaks to NC special op Marines (05/28/09)

2009-05-30T09:51:00.006-06:00

Associated Press - News Observer, North Carolina

'Tea' author speaks to NC special op Marines

by KEVIN MAURER, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, May 28, 2009

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (AP) - Special operations Marines trained to infiltrate enemy lines and kill Taliban fighters spent Thursday morning with a man known for winning allies in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan one cup of tea at a time.

for the complete article, please follow the link below:

http://www.newsobserver.com/1565/v-print/story/1545623.html

ABC News Person of The Week (03/27/09)

2009-04-19T10:02:00.002-06:00

'Three Cups of Tea' Author Never Gave Up on His Peacebuilding Efforts To Establish Girls Schools

By ALICE MAGGIN
To view ABC News video clip, click here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=7193877

Mortenson @ West Point (03/13/09)

2009-03-13T11:13:00.003-06:00

Times Herald-Record (Hudson Valley, NY)
Mortenson tells West Point Army cadets how to win in Afghanistan
Friday March 13, 2009
By Alexa James

WEST POINT — Author and Greg Mortenson introduced himself to an auditorium of Army cadets, then told them how to win in Afghanistan: "Drink more tea."

Mortenson met with students in West Point's Counterinsurgency Operations class on Tuesday to discuss his humanitarian work in Central Asia and his best-selling book, "Three Cups of Tea."

The Army veteran explained: "First cup you're a stranger, the second cup a guest. On the third cup you become family."

"That doesn't mean you just go around drinking tea and having peace and freedom in the world," he said. "What it means is, you have to build relationships."

For complete article, please click below:
www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090313/NEWS/903130339/-1/NEWS

Author Greg Mortenson to speak at West Point (03/09/09)

2009-03-10T09:07:00.001-06:00

Times Herald Record (Middletown - Hudson Valley, NY)

Author Greg Mortenson to speak at West Point

Monday, March 09, 2009

By Alexa James

WEST POINT — Best-selling author Greg Mortenson will deliver a public lecture on Tuesday night to Army cadets taking a Military Science Counterinsurgency Operations course at West Point.

Mortenson wrote “Three Cups of Tea,” a story about his effort to fight terrorism and promote peace by building schools in impoverished parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. As of 2008, he's established more than 78 schools for roughly 28,000 children.

Mortenson's work has been rife with conflict. In 1996, he survived an eight-day armed kidnapping in Pakistan. In 2003, he escaped a firefight between feuding Afghan warlords by hiding under animal hides in a truck heading for a leather-tanning factory.

After 9/11, he received hate mail and death threats from Americans who were angry about his education efforts for Muslim children.

In August 2008, Pakistan's government gave Mortenson its highest civil award, the Sitara-e-Pakistan (Star of Pakistan) for his humanitarian efforts. Pakistan's president will confer the award on March 23 in Islamabad.

“Mortenson’s involvement in central Asia is critical to a holistic approach to assisting other countries,” said Maj. James Spies, the Counterinsurgency Operations course director at West Point.

“The military has re-learned the lessons of counterinsurgency that point out the need to build up the whole of a society to assist them in solving the core problems that created an insurgency.”

The lecture will take place in Thayer Hall’s Robinson Auditorium at 6:30 p.m. Attendees should enter West Point through Thayer or Stoney Lonesome gates and bring valid identification. Vehicles are subject to search. Visitors may park in Clinton Lot or other available spaces.

www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090309/NEWS/90309037

To The Point (02/27/09)

2009-02-27T21:47:00.003-07:00

NPR

Friday, February 27, 2009

Greg Mortenson featured live on NPR "To The Point", hosted by Warrn Olney. Other guests are renowned Pakistan author, Ahmed Rashid ("Taliban", "Descent into Chaos") and Harlan Ullman at the Atlantic Council and National Defense University in DC.

Click here or visit:

www.kcrw.com/news/programs/tp/tp090227religious_violence_a

Helping Kids for Peace (02/11/09)

2009-02-11T10:50:00.002-07:00

Washington Post
Helping Kids for Peace
Kindness Saved Greg Mortenson's Life. Now He's Passing It On.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
by Valerie Strauss

Imagine that you are climbing down the world's second-largest mountain, and suddenly you realize you are lost and alone. You have no water and only one protein bar. And you haven't taken a shower for three months!

That's what happened to Greg Mortenson.

At that moment, he began an adventure that changed his life -- and the lives of countless people in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

click here for complete article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/10/AR2009021003591_pf.html

NY Times Best Seller List 02/15/2009

2009-02-04T16:39:00.003-07:00

All three "Three Cups of Tea" books are on NY Times Bestseller List. Thank you for your support, please keep spreading the word of peace.

At Mills Lawn School, a penny saved is a penny learned (01/29/09)

2009-01-30T08:33:00.003-07:00

Yellow Springs News (OH)
January 29, 2009
At Mills Lawn School, a penny saved is a penny learned
By Susan Gartner

www.ysnews.com/stories/2009/01/012909_pennies.html

The ad hoc public relations team hurried down the hall, snaking their way past the lobby where colorful flags from 20 different countries hung from the ceiling. The group quickly grew in number as they stopped to collect more members en route to the 10:45 a.m. press conference. Sometimes a quick hug with a new arrival would take place before continuing on. The group, representing varying levels of fundraising experience, squeezed around a small, round conference table to discuss the project, how it got started, and what they had learned so far.
McKenna Banaszak-Moore began the meeting by stating that the money being raised will be used to assist people in Afghanistan and Pakistan, “to help build schools and let girls have an education.”
...

click here for complete article: www.ysnews.com/stories/2009/01/012909_pennies.html

Contact: sgartner@ysnews.com

Three Cups of Tea for children (01/27/09)

2009-01-27T17:37:00.001-07:00

Tampa Examiner

January 27, 2009

by Karen Deerwester,

Parenting Examiner

Three Cups of Tea for children: Greg Mortenson writes new books for kids by Karen Deerwester

Greg Mortenson's new books for young readers debuted last week. Listen to the Wind is written for the 5 to 8 year olds and Three Cups of Tea, the Young Reader's Edition is for 8 years and up. When I recommended these last week, one reader asked for more information on the books and their amazing author, Greg Mortenson. The original Three Cups of Tea has been on the New York Times Best Sellers list for 102 weeks and counting. These new books for children are sure to follow. Both books introduce children to a larger world - to other cultures, to compassion and appreciation of other people, and to the dynamic power of education and peace. Mortenson's first book told us of his journey that begun as a young mountain climber and ended as a humanitarian building schools in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Greg Mortenson tells a hero's story - one of truth and honor. He taught me that "peace education" is the daily practice of seeing other people's points of view, respecting differences, generously extending the benefit of the doubt to sometimes hurtful situations, and searching for peaceful solutions instead of impulsive defensiveness. Mortenson teaches all of us how to effect positive change through relationship-building - taking the time to share "three cups of tea". Young children will enjoy hearing the story of Listen to the Wind, as told by the children of Korphe. They will recognize the lives they share and imagine living with yaks and goats. American children will be intrigued when they read:
With our small fingers we wedged tiny slivers of stones into the cement to make our walls stronger. Our school grew each day, up from the high, flat ground where we used to write with our sticks. Mortenson's books give parents and teachers a wealth of ideas and activities to construct lifelong meaning from the words and images on these pages: children can reenact the building process from carrying supplies across treacherous landscape to erecting walls; they can compare how people in far away places dress, what they eat or recreate the style of home; children can take up the cause of helping Dr. Greg by getting involved with Pennies for Peace. The Young Reader's Edition retells Dr. Greg's original story with breathtaking clarity for his new audience. The foreward by Jane Goodall connects Dr. Greg's work to another extraordinary role model for young children. The lessons of this book are personal and inspiring. Children, like Dr. Greg's many adult readers, will be forever changed by meeting a real-life, get-dirty, break-few-rules adventurer like Dr. Greg. And meeting the children whose lives he touches. These are must-have books for your at-home or school library.

Click here for complete article

http://www.examiner.com/x-494-Parenting-Examiner~y2009m1d27-Three-Cups-of-Tea-for-children-Greg-Mortenson-writes-new-books-for-kids

Reaching young minds (01/21/09)

2009-01-22T12:33:00.004-07:00

BOZEMAN CHRONICLE
Reaching young minds
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
By GAIL SCHONTZLER

Greg Mortenson has spoken to thousands of U.S. university and high school students about his bestselling “Three Cups of Tea,” the inspirational story of his work building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan to “promote peace, one school at a time.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF DEIRDRE EITEL

Greg Mortenson, with his son Khyber and daughter Amira, visit with students at the Gultari war refugee girls school built in the Karakoram mountains of Pakistan in 2007. But when Mortenson visited a fourth-grade class in Houston, he realized the kids were struggling with the adult-level book. That prompted his wife, Tara Bishop, to suggest once again that he write a version for children.“Kids are so excited,” Bishop said, especially about Mortenson’s Pennies for Peace program, which allows children here to raise pennies that will buy pencils and school supplies for students in Pakistan. “It would feel empowering if kids could read it themselves.”Two years later, her idea is being realized.Two children’s books based on Mortenson’s story are being released today. One is a half-length version for young readers, entitled “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Journey to Change the World One Child at a Time.” It has a forward by famed primatologist Jane Goodall, plus photos, maps, a timeline, glossary and list of who’s who, as well as information about how kids can get involved and help Pennies for Peace.
Advertisement The second is a picture book illustrated by artist Susan Roth called “Listen to the Wind: The Story of Dr. Greg and Three Cups of Tea.”Mortenson and his 12-year-old daughter, Amira, are set to appear this morning on NBC’s “Today” show to talk about the books. It’s the first stop in a national tour that will include the United Nations Children’s Forum and a book expo in Los Angeles.Amira, who has traveled to Pakistan with her family three times, discusses what life is like for children in Pakistan and Afghanistan from a kid’s point of view in a 30-page question-and-answer interview in the young-readers book.“I think it’s important for kids to know, no matter how small you are, you can make a difference in the world,” Amira said.Chatting with the seventh-grader Tuesday, as she sat next to her dad in the family’s Bozeman home, it quickly became clear that she has a confidence and self-possession far beyond her years. When they speak to groups, it’s her dad who is more introverted and Amira - a taekwando champ and Equinox Theatre alum - who is naturally outgoing.Still, she admitted the “Today” show, though “a huge adrenalin rush,” was making her nervous.Mortenson’s mission began in 1993, when he was saved by Pakistani villagers after his failed attempt to climb K-2. Seeing village kids learning by sitting on the ground and scratching in the dirt with sticks, he made a rash promise to build a school.Back home, he struggled to raise a few thousand dollars to keep his promise. One big break came when children in his mother’s Wisconsin school raised $623 in pennies. Mortenson built the first school, and that snowballed into working with other villages to build more schools, aimed especially at educating girls, in remote areas where the Taliban has attacked hundreds of government schools.“I think their greatest fear is not the bullet but the pen,” Mortenson said. “The real enemy is ignorance n ignorance that causes hatred. To overcome it we need compassion and education.”So far, he said, his nonprofit Central Asia Institute has built 78 schools, and runs another four dozen, educating 28,000 children.Thanks largely to word of mouth and book groups, his book, co-authored with David Relin, has sold more than 2 million copies in paperback and been on the New York Times bestseller list 102 weeks. It has become required reading from Montana universities to the high school population of New Hampshire. He has gotten e-mail from such notable readers as Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.Pennies for Peace, meanwhile, has mushroomed among students, growing from 270 schools last year to 3,200 today.One stop on the Mortensons’ tour will be the private Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., which President Obama’s daughters now attend. Mortenson said his mother-in-law, Lila Bishop, taught there for 20 years. He and Amira have a chance to share their story with Sidwell students, and possibly First Lady Michelle Obama, he said.Mortenson said he is “very excited” about the new president, but concerned about Obama’s “brazen statements” about hunting down Osama bin Laden and plans to beef up the U.S. military in Afghanistan. He’d rather see something like the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe after World War II.“They’re all thinking firepower, and what we really need is brain power,” he said. “It’s education that will determine if the next generation (in Pakistan and Afghanistan) is educated, or illiterate fighters. The stakes could not be higher.”

Gail Schontzler is at gails@dailychronicle.com.

www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2009/01/22/news/000cups.txt

'Three Cups of Tea' author finds new mountains to climb (01/02/09)

2009-01-02T09:55:00.005-07:00

USA TODAY

By Laura Bly, Travel Editor

Friday, January 2, 2009

'Three Cups of Tea' author finds new mountains to climb

WASHINGTON — Globe-trotting humanitarian Greg Mortenson, co-author of the best-selling memoir Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time, keeps a reminder pasted to his bathroom mirror back home in Bozeman, Mont.: "When your heart speaks, take good notes."

Mortenson's own heart started hollering 15 years ago, when the exhausted mountaineer lost his way in northeastern Pakistan's untrammeled Karakoram Range. After stumbling nearly 60 miles down a glacier to the Muslim hamlet of Korphe — where he was welcomed as the first foreigner the 400 villagers had encountered — he watched local children substitute mud-coated sticks for pencils in an apricot orchard that served as their only classroom.

Inspired by his parents' work to start a hospital and school on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, and by fellow climber Edmund Hillary's charitable work in the Nepalese Himalayas, Mortenson promised he would return to Korphe to build a school.

But unlike most well-meaning tourists touched by encounters with Third World poverty, Mortenson delivered on his pledge.

To read more please follow this link: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2009-01-01-three-cups-of-tea_N.htm

Wall Street Journal (12/26/08)

2008-12-26T09:20:00.002-07:00

WALL STREET JOURNAL
Friday, December 26th, 2008
By Yochi J. Dreazen

Greg Mortenson, a humanitarian and co-author of the best-selling book "Three Cups of Tea," has a surprising new job: advising the U.S. military on how to fight extremism . . . In recent months, Mr. Mortenson has begun a second career as a guru of sorts for the military. In November, he was invited to the Pentagon for a private meeting with Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In December, he flew to Florida to talk to senior officers from the secretive Special Operations Command . . .

OUTSIDE MAGAZINE (December, 2008)

2008-11-06T14:42:00.012-07:00

OUTSIDE MAGAZINE
DECEMBER 2008
No Bachcheh (child) Left Behind
By KEVIN FEDARKO

Greg Mortenson’s school-building program in Central Asia dates back to 1993, when the banged-up K2 survivor made a pledge to the mountain villagers who took him in. Fifteen years and Three Cups of Tea later, it’s both a powerful example of a great idea...KEVIN FEDARKO hits the rough road with Mortenson in Afghanistan, where they roll with warlords and deliver teacher pay the old-fashioned way

Feature article in print in OUTSIDE Dec. 2008 issue.

Posted online in January 2009.

Forbes.com Adventurer Series (09/23/08)

2008-09-23T09:44:00.001-06:00

Forbes.com
Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Forbes.com Adventurer Series host Jim Clash interviews Greg Mortenson on building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and recent K2 fatalities.

Watch Video:

www.forbes.com/video/?video=fvn/adventurer/jc_adv092308

"Night Talk" with Mike Schneider (09/17/08)

2008-09-17T21:45:00.000-06:00

Bloomberg TV
"Night Talk" with Mike Schneider
Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008
www.bloomberg.com/tvradio/tv

Click below for Greg Mortenson interview by Mike Schneider; part two of three part interview www.clipsyndicate.com/publish/video/697103/night_talk_an_interview_with_greg_mortenson_part_2

NPR National Radio (08/23/08)

2008-08-24T18:41:00.004-06:00

NPR National Radio

All Things Considered with Jackie Lyden
August 23, 2008

Events this week in Afghanistan and Pakistan have created a new sense of urgency among international policymakers. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf announced his resignation on Monday. That same day in Afghanistan, a pair of insurgent attacks rocked NATO forces — one a coordinated assault on a U.S. military base and the other an ambush that killed 10 French soldiers.

Greg Mortenson, director of Central Asia Institute, recently met with Musharraf over tea ..... more on podcast www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93902559

Mortenson builds hope for Pakistan (08/20/08)

2008-08-20T16:25:00.003-06:00

Billings Gazette Editorial Opinion (Montana)
Mortenson builds hope for Pakistan
Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

Pakistan may be the most dangerous country in the world. Grinding poverty, chronic political instability, government corruption, civil unrest, terrorists operating within its borders and the nation's possession of nuclear weapons - all these factors contribute to that unfortunate designation.

In that perilous place, one Montanan continues to carry a torch for hope and enlightenment... read more

www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/08/20/opinion/gazette/50-gazetteopinion.txt

It Takes a School, Not Missiles (07/12/08)

2008-07-15T22:31:00.003-06:00

New York Times - Op-Ed Column
Sunday, Jul 12, 2008
It Takes a School, Not Missiles
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Since 9/11, Westerners have tried two approaches to fight terrorism in Pakistan, President Bush’s and Greg Mortenson’s...... Military force is essential in Afghanistan to combat the Taliban. But over time, in Pakistan and Afghanistan alike, the best tonic against militant fundamentalism will be education and economic opportunity. ....

Complete article can be viewed at: www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/opinion/13kristof.html?ref=opinion

The Economist print edition (05/01/08)

2008-05-01T09:09:00.004-06:00

Worldwide circulation 1,306,939 (

182,000)
True stories: Hope and inspiration fuel the most popular biographies and autobiographies
May 1st, 2008

WHEN Greg Mortenson, a six-foot-four night-nurse and mountaineer from Montana, first visited Pakistan in 1993 to climb K2, the world's second-highest peak, he failed in his mountain quest but ended up doing more to win hearts and minds in the region than any amount of official American propaganda.

For complete article, please click here.

2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammed Yunnus ('Banker for the Poor'), and Greg Mortenson at the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize Forum (03/08/08)

2008-03-08T18:49:00.005-07:00

Photo courtesy of Gary Smaby/2008

Minnesota Public Radio (NPR)
Friday, March 7, 2008
Mid-Morning with Kerri Miller: Man on a mission for education
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/programs/midmorning/?date=03-07-2008

Greg Mortenson MPR interview at the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize Forum at Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota.

Mortenson was the plenary speaker with 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate keynote Muhammed Yunus and economist Jeffrey Sachs.

2008 Nobel Peace Prize Forum weblink:
www.cord.edu/Academics/Events/Peaceprizeforum

American mountaineer fights Taliban with books, not bombs - CNN.com (03/03/08)

2008-03-04T09:56:00.005-07:00

Follwowing is an excerpt from CNN.com coverage about Greg Mortenson:

CNN.com
March 3rd, 2008
American mountaineer fights Taliban with books, not bombs
John Blake

Greg Mortenson brushed his tears away. His body sagged when he saw it happen. The prize he had sought for 78 agonizing days was slipping from his view.

He was clinging to an icy patch of K2, the second-highest mountain in the world. He had vowed to place an amber necklace on the top of the Pakistani mountain for his sister Christa. But clouds moved in when he was 600 meters from the top, blocking his path to the summit.

For complete article <Click Here>

Pakistan Free to Learn - Daily Telegraph UK (02/16/08)

2008-02-16T00:44:00.012-07:00

The following excerpt has been taken from Daily Telegraph UK:

Daily Telegraph UK
February 16th, 2008
Pakistan Free to Learn
Jonathan Foreman

After a disastrous attempt to climb K2, former US Army medic Greg Mortenson had to be nursed back to health by the inhabitants of a remote and impoverished Pakistani village. He vowed to repay them by building a local school, and has now built more than 60 in similar areas across south Asia. Jonathan Foreman meets him.

Shi'ite Muslim girls play in the grounds of Jafarabad Community Girls School. Behind are the high peaks surrounding the Shigar Valley

click here for the complete article

BBC 5 Live Radio International with Simon Mayo (01/21/08)

2008-01-21T16:38:00.000-07:00

During his visit to UK, Greg Mortenson was on the Simon Mayo program earlier today talking about his work and his book.

To listen to the interview, please click the link below:
Listen to Greg Mortenson talking about Three Cups Of Tea on BBC Radio 5 live

Click here for Greg's picture during the interview.

1,000 cue at library for Three Cups of Tea tickets in Lake Oswego, OR (01/17/08)

2008-01-17T17:08:00.000-07:00

Lake Oswego Review

January 17, 2008

Tickets for ‘Three Cups’ go quickly

They were the hottest ticket in town, pun intended

More than 1,000 people filled the Lake Oswego Public Library on Saturday to stand in line for a pair of free tickets to hear “Three Cups of Tea” authors Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin speak Feb. 6 as a part of this year’s Lake Oswego Reads program.

When the library opened at 10 a.m., there were already people waiting for the 2:30 p.m. distribution of 1,000 tickets.

“Three Cups of Tea” supporters followed the taped line on the floor that wrapped around the book stacks on the main floor of the library.

People sat on the floor, read books, discussed “Three Cups of Tea,” knitted, drank tea and had fun. By 1 p.m., organizers estimated that the line had more than 250 people. By 2 p.m., there were more than 450 people waiting with the line leading to the second floor.

“It was so exciting. There was such a buzz throughout the library and you could feel the anticipation,” said Lake Oswego resident Gregory Breuner, one of the lucky library members to receive two free tickets. “The people waiting introduced themselves to each other and discussed the books in front of them. We left the library with tickets and new friends.”

At 2:30 p.m. tickets were distributed, two per person, and they were gone in 20 minutes, just as LO Reads organizer Cyndie Glazer predicted.

More than 500 people were turned away when the tickets ran out.

Lake Oswego Reads organizers were surprised and thrilled with the response to hearing Relin and Mortenson speak. Because of the high demand for tickets, Glazer said library officials plan to check Craigslist and eBay to see if people post them for sale – and if so, how much they sell for.

Although there is not a waiting list, people can show up on Feb. 6 at Lake Oswego High School and if there are seats available at 6:45 p.m., they will be seated in the cafeteria, where guests will be able to see and hear the authors talk on large screens.

The blue tickets are for the auditorium and the red tickets are for the cafeteria, officials said. The tickets note that there is no admission after 6:45 p.m. for the 7 p.m. presentation.

Mortenson will travel to Lake Oswego from his home in Bozeman , Mont. , while Relin lives in Portland . They will both talk at a student-only event at Lakeridge High School earlier in the day.

Library officials plan to solicit donations for Mortenson’s non-profit, the Central Asia Institute, during his evening appearance and through a elementary school program, “Pennies for Peace.”

This author event is made possible in part by a grant from the gOregon Council for the Humanities, a statewide nonprofit organization and an independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, which funds OCH’s grant program. The Oregon Cultural Trust, which invests in Oregon arts, humanities and heritage, also helped fund OCH’s grant program.

This is the second annual Lake Oswego Reads and the goal of the program is to strengthen civic pride, foster discussion among residents and bring the community together through the common bond of reading. It gives a forum in which to talk about different themes, concepts and issues in the book and a means to access related experiences.

To find out about all the events planned around “Three Cups of Tea” during February, go to www.lakeoswegolibrary.org and click on the Lake Oswego Reads box.

http://www.lakeoswegoreview.com

Making friends, not enemies (01/14/08)

2008-01-14T19:25:00.002-07:00

The following excerpt has been taken from Colorado Springs Independent Newspaper.

JANUARY 10, 2008

Making friends, not enemies

In Pakistan and Afghanistan, Greg Mortenson's building schools — and goodwill

BY JOHN WEISS

Save the date: 7 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 15. A phenomenon is coming to town.
Everywhere Greg Mortenson travels, people flock to hear his story and his simple message about how to change the world. He has spoken to 1,400 in Cambridge, Mass., 2,000 in San Francisco and 2,500 on Bainbridge Island in Washington state.
People also are buying Mortenson's book, which has spent 47 weeks on the New York Times best-sellers list. And the readers aren't just peaceniks — the Army is requiring 5,000 officers attending the U.S. War College to read Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations ... One School at a Time..................

<click here> for complete article.

In remote Pakistan , Greg Mortenson is besting extremists by building schools (01/13/08)

2008-01-13T10:44:00.001-07:00

The following is an excerpt from Philadelphia Inquirer syndicated columnist, Trudy Rubin, on her recent December 2007 visit with Greg Mortenson and Central Asia Institute in Pakistan.

Sunday, January 13, 2008
Worldview: The Lesson Jihadis Fear
In remote Pakistan , Greg Mortenson is besting extremists by building schools.
By Trudy Rubin

Pakistan has made news lately as the world's most dangerous country: a nuclear-armed state that has become a base for al-Qaeda, the Taliban and other fanatic Islamists.

But on my trip there last month, I saw an antidote to this nightmare, a route out of this trap - if Pakistan 's government and the West would only seize it. I traveled to mountain villages with Greg Mortenson, a former mountain climber who has built fifty five schools in Pakistan , and eight in Afghanistan .

Mortenson got lost 15 years ago descending from K2 , and promised to build a school for the villagers who rescued and nursed him. His formula for countering extremism is summed up in the title of his best-selling book: Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time.

<click here> for complete article.

Reuters: National Awards for Citizen Diplomacy announced (01/07/08)

2008-01-07T23:51:00.000-07:00

National Awards for Citizen Diplomacy announced Award Ceremony to be held February 12, 2008 in Washington, D.C.
Monday, January 7th, 2008
Reuters

The U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy has announced six recipients of the first-ever National Awards for Citizen Diplomacy.

The honorees will be recognized at an Awards Ceremony at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. on February 12, 2008.

The honorees are recognized for inspiring others through their exemplary work as citizen diplomats and for promoting cultural understanding around the world. It is not only the right, but the responsibility of every American to be a citizen diplomat, of the highest quality, for our communities and our country,' said Harriet Mayor Fulbright, board member for the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy and the President of the J. William and Harriet Fulbright Center. We are particularly proud to recognize these six recipients of the first-ever National Awards for Citizen Diplomacy.

The honorees, through their various causes and programs, understand the need for citizen involvement in international relations. We established this award to shine a spotlight on citizen diplomats and to recognize their efforts and highlight their national and international contributions.

National Award Honorees

Greg Mortenson of Bozeman, Montana, is the co-founder of the Central Asia Institute and Pennies for Peace. Mortenson has raised funds to build 64 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan and has helped over 25,000 children. He is co-author of The New York Times best seller, Three Cups of Tea.

More on: www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS165945+07-Jan-2008

3CT #3 on NY TIMES BESTSELLER (01-07-08)

2008-01-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

Three Cups of Tea is # 3 this week on NY Times bestseller list (paperback nonfiction) for week # 48

PAPERBACK NONFICTION

Top 5 at a Glance
1. EAT, PRAY, LOVE, by Elizabeth Gilbert
2. THE INNOCENT MAN, by John Grisham
3. THREE CUPS OF TEA, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
4. INTO THE WILD, by Jon Krakauer
5. CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR, by George Crile
Complete Paperback Nonfiction List »

USA TODAY (12-28-07)

2007-12-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

Following is an excerpt from USA Today article on Greg Mortenson and "Three Cups of Tea". For detailed article please visit USA Today's weblink below:

USA TODAY

Mountaineer builds schools in 'Three Cups of Tea'

December 26, 2007

By Bob Minzesheimer

A surprise best seller this season is a non-fiction book, set in Pakistan and Afghanistan , that was published 21 months ago to limited notice.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin has climbed the lists, thanks to word-of-mouth recommendations and a tireless author with an inspiring story.

Tea describes how Mortenson, an American mountaineer, found a new cause: building schools, mostly elementary and especially for girls, in 1993 during a failed attempt to climb the K2 peak on Pakistan 's border.

www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2007-12-19-three-cups_N.htm

NBC Today Show (11-20-07)

2007-11-23T11:01:00.000-07:00

Excerpt: ‘Three Cups of Tea’

Nov. 20: TODAY’s Ann Curry reports on Greg Mortenson, who has dedicated his life to giving girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan a better future by building them schools.

For the complete story please visit: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21883828

NewJersey Fundraiser a Huge Success (11-10-07)

2007-11-23T10:28:00.001-07:00

11-10-2007, New Jersey, -A fundraiser for CAI and was tremendously successful as it raised $264,000 to benefit the charity. This event was sponsored and organized by the American-Pakistani community and spear-headed by a local couple, Sumeera and Zahid Baig. The Robbinsville High school entrance hall where students mill, socialize, exchange notes and notice each other fashion oddities during the day was transformed in a splendid banquet Hall at night. Mortenson first had a book signing from which it was hard to tear away the 470 guests that were able to get a one-on-one time with the legendary author/humanitarian whose book has been on the New York Times Best Seller List for over 40 weeks.

"If you promote peace, that's based on hope," Mortenson said, "The real enemy is ignorance because it's based on hatred." The book's title, Three Cups of Tea, refers to the measured progression of becoming a trusted partner with people in developing areas. With the first cup of tea, you're a stranger. With the second, you're an honored guest. With the third, you're family." Mortenson then spoke of his journey from the peaks of K-2 to the pinnacle of humanitarianism in front of the hundreds of spectators where one could have heard a pin drop. In simple lyrical sentences punctuated by a slideshow of his voyages, the unassuming American hero who has been called a real Indiana Jones retold his story. Mortenson explained, "There are 145 million children without education because of slavery, gender discrimination, religious intolerance and corrupt governments. It only costs $1 per month, per child to change that, roughly $6 to $8 billion per year."

In a region marked by tribulation, Mortenson's schools and projects have been triumphant by extending self-empowerment to communities, which leads to enduring life development. Before a project starts, he explained, the community matches Central Asia Institute project funds with equal amounts of local resources and labor. Such ownership ensures the project's viability and long term success. As he said, "When the Taliban was in power, only 800,000 kids were in school. Today more than 5 million children go to school -- and 1.8 million are girls. That's where we should be putting our money."

As Mortenson finished speaking, the captivated audience gave him a standing ovation. A school building now costs $50,000 and as the fundraiser ensued the checks cascaded in and a ticker on the screen tallied $264,000: the amount raised. All the proceeds will benefit Mortenson's Central Asia Institute and help sustain schools and build new ones.

East Coast vs West Coast (11-03-07)

2007-11-04T09:17:00.000-07:00

West Coast:

Three Cups of Tea supporters queue for hours in line for limited tickets for Cambridge Reads series on Nov 7 and 8th.November 8th talk at Sanders Auditorium, Harvard sold out in less than two hours (1,100 tickets) on Oct. 24th.This line, on Saturday, 11/3 at Cambridge library, is for the added 11/7 event at First Parish Church, Cambridge, and sold out also.

East Coast:

In response to sell out crowds in the West Coast, east coast 3CT and CAI supporters respond with equal enthusiasm Tickets (450) for New Jersey 11/10 fundraising dinner event sold out by 11/03.

Seattle Post Intelligencer interview with President Clinton (11-01-07)

2007-11-01T11:45:00.000-06:00

Seattle Post Intelligencer interview with President Clinton

Thursday, November 1, 2007

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/books/337596_clinton01.html

Extracted from full interview on above website:

QUESTION (by Bob Marshall - P-I book editor):

(The book) "Giving" provides many examples of successful philanthropic efforts. Two from the Northwest merit special praise from you. ... I'm speaking of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Greg Mortenson's Central Asia Institute (that builds schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan). Talk about what you have learned from those two. What I admire about the Gates Foundation, is that they've not only put a massive amount of money into play, but they are directing almost all the money, virtually 100 percent of it, trying to remedy the world's inequalities at the moment, not only around the world, mostly in health care, and in America, mostly in education.... With Mortenson, I admire the fact that he had a big idea that he realized it was big because it could be replicated. He's the ultimate social entrepreneur ... a guy with a good idea, prepared to start small and stay with it as long as it takes to have a big impact and commit a lifetime to it. ... I admire he was able to encourage and tap people of exceedingly modest means to help him. ... I also admire he was working and was effective in an area where Americans are not popular, ... he was able to break through all that because he was able to relate to people as human beings ...

Three Cups of Tea selected for Rochester Reads (11-01-07)

2007-11-01T01:46:00.000-06:00

Rochester Post-Bulletin (Rochester MN)
Three Cups of Tea selected for Rochester Reads
Thursday, November 1, 2007
By Christina Killion-Valdez

More than any other year of Rochester Reads, this has been the year that people want to know which book is in the lead.

Since the community began voting in June on which book Rochester will read, Katherine Stecher, chairwoman of Rochester Reads, has been careful not to give it away.

"People are coming up to me and asking who's winning?" she said.

Yet even before Mayor Ardell Brede announced the winner this morning in the city hall rotunda, one book had a clear lead, she said.

"Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations -- One School at a Time," a New York Times bestseller, has been a popular choice at the library all year. Book clubs have the book reserved through June, and the waiting list for single copies has been up to 30 people deep, Stecher said.

"I think people will be really pleased that this book won," Stecher said.

The book tells the harrowing journey of Greg Mortenson, a Montana resident, who helped build 58 schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The other books considered were: "Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science" by Atul Gawande, "Sweet Land: New and Selected Stories" by Will Weaver and "Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague" by Geraldine Brooks.

The books were selected for a variety of reasons, including good writing, a good story and being ripe for discussion, she said.

"Three Cups of Tea" however got twice as many votes as the other books and has sparked discussions across the country, Stecher said.

The book "does not make people into terriorists," she said. "It's trying to explain their culture in a sensitive way."

Discussions based on the book and cultural programs will be a big part of Rochester Reads events in February. Mortenson will speak to classes and at a public forum Feb. 11.

The book selected for junior readers looks at the same region of the world. "The Breadwinner" is about a girl living in Afghanistan during the reign of the Taliban. Author Deborah Ellis is expected to visit Rochester as part of Rochester Reads.

(c) 2007 Rochester Post-Bulletin. All Rights Reserved. Used With Permission.

The Daily Aztec (10-31-07)

2007-10-31T08:56:00.000-06:00

Daily Aztec
San Diego State University, CA
Pennies add up
By Shanee Warden - Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 31, 2007

In 1833, a penny could buy a newspaper. In 1950, a penny could buy a piece of candy. In 2007, a penny can help build a new school.

San Diego State 's Mortar Board raised $6,000 - the equivalent of 600,000 pennies - to help pay for half the cost of a school in either Pakistan or Afghanistan .

Mortar Board's Pennies for Peace project made its goal in June of this year. The campaign collected about 300,000 pennies and other forms of cash. Jane Smith, assistant vice president of academic services, said many people donated dollar bills, dimes and nickels.

With so many coins and dollar bills, sorting the donations was a hefty task, but the SDSU Bookstore and Aztec Shops helped out.

"We had to put all the pennies on a dolly to take them from my office," Smith said.

Smith said they received a letter saying that donations would help to build a school in either Pakistan or Afghanistan - which country it will be is currently unknown.

"One penny can buy a pencil in Pakistan or Afghanistan ," Smith said. "Every penny makes a difference."

Samantha Spilka, former president of Mortar Board, made the Pennies for Peace project a reality at SDSU in February. Penny collecting containers were set up in a variety of places, including fraternity houses, student service offices and the library.

Spilka, who graduated from SDSU and is attending Columbia University , got the idea of the penny project from the book "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson.

The program is a part of the Central Asia Institute, an organization founded by Mortenson, which encourages education in Pakistan and Afghanistan .

Henry Janssen, professor emeritus and the adviser to honors council, said SDSU chose "Three Cups of Tea" as its book for next year. Mortenson will be on campus to talk about the book.

Janssen said the next pennies project will be with the San Diego Public Library and hopefully include San Diego city schools.

"The San Diego schools could raise $12,000 to fund one whole school," Janssen said.

The project is supposed to start collecting pennies in January 2008.

http://media.www.thedailyaztec.com/media/storage/paper741/news/2007/10/31/City/Pennies.Add.Up-3067922.shtml

(c) 2007 Daily Aztec. All Rights Reserved.

Contra Costa Times (10-28-07)

2007-10-28T08:58:00.000-06:00

Contra Costa Times
Students at Livermore school save their pennies to build a school in Pakistan
By Mark Tarte
Sunday, October 28, 2007

CHILDREN LEARN IN SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS. A fifth-grade class at Emma C. Smith School is learning about the world around them in a positive way and helping other children in Pakistan at the same time.

It started when a student's mother brought a book to her child's principal, Denise Nathanson, called "Three Cups of Tea." It is about a young man's near-fatal climbing accident on the mountain known as K2 and his subsequent recovery at the hands of poor Pakistani villagers.

Out of this near tragedy and recovery for the climber, Greg Mortenson, grew the program Pennies for Peace. A Berkeley nurse, Mortenson made a vow to the villagers who saved his life that he would come back and build a school for them.

The village was so poor that it couldn't even afford the dollar a day it takes to hire a teacher. The children would climb to the next village at times to go to school and still study together even if the teacher didn't arrive. Their writing was done with sticks in the dirt since they were so poor they couldn't afford pencils and paper in a country where a penny buys a pencil.

Mortenson did scrape together the money to build a school and fulfilled his promise. He then wrote "Three Cups of Tea" with David Oliver Relin about his experience. To date, he has helped to build 59 schools in Pakistan and is now expanding into Afghanistan .

His work is especially important for girls in a culture where they were not normally allowed to receive an education and the schools are slowly countering the Taliban-supported schools where children were taught only to hate.
The story has enthralled those who read it, and Nathanson asked if anyone at the Smith school wanted to get involved. Two teachers who job-share took it on enthusiastically. Erin Summers' and Megan Fletcher's fifth-grade class have jumped in with both feet and are trying to raise the $12,000 it takes to build a school in Pakistan .

The class has raised almost $2,200 in the past month or so toward their eventual goal, and they are working hard to raise the rest. This is a daunting task for any fundraiser, let alone a group of young students.

Each week these fifth- graders go into the other classrooms, update the younger students about the project and leave behind containers to collect pennies. At the end of the week, those cans are collected and added to the slowly growing total.

The students have also written letters to many politicians about what they are doing and will be making a presentation to the Livermore school board Nov. 7.

I learned about this wonderful project through Charlotte Grabill, the volunteer publicity chairwoman at the school. The more I looked into what Charlotte told me, the more I was pleasantly surprised by the dedication and drive these youngsters demonstrate. Everyone should be as passionate about something as these students are.

You can help if you'd like. Donations are being accepted through the school; you just need to earmark a check with "Pennies for Peace" when you send it.

You can mail a donation to the Emma C. Smith School , 391 Ontario Drive , Livermore , CA 94550 .

To find out more about the international project or the book itself, go to http://www.penniesforpeace.org. There, you will find different links to this project and other projects supported by this group throughout central Asia . My check is on its way ... how about yours?

Until next week, be alert, be safe and God bless America .

Reach Mark Tarte c/o the Times, P.O. Box 607 , Pleasanton , CA 94566 or by e-mail: Aroundliv@comcast.net

http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_7305968?source=most_emailed
(c) 2007 Contra Costa Times

Making a Difference: Bringing light to danger zones (10-12-07)

2007-10-12T14:27:00.000-06:00

NBC Nightly News covered Cetral Asia Institute and Greg Mortenson in their "Making a Difference" segment. Click the following link to view the story and watch the video that was aired:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10397946

A Journey Of Hope (10-10-07)

2007-10-10T20:34:00.000-06:00

http://bozemandailychronicle.com/pakistan/pakistan1.php

This is the story of one man's mission and what it means to those who live in a region plagued by war, poverty and illiteracy. The reports, in photographs captured by Deirdre Eitel and stories written by Karin Ronnow while in Pakistan and Afghanistan, detail why Greg Mortenson started the Central Asia Institute, and how his efforts have become a source of hope. Devastation & Hope

Winning Hearts and Minds

Isolation and Hope

War and Hope

Relocation and Hope

Poverty and hope

Mortenson: Regular guy gets big results (10-07-07)

2007-10-07T09:55:00.000-06:00

Photo: Deirdre Eitel - Greg Mortenson talks with his friend and supporter Mehdi Ali in the lobby of the Indus Hotel in Skardu,

Pakistan

, in July. Mortenson has been able to build girls schools in conservative, rural areas of the

Pakistan

by gaining trust and nurturing relationships with the villagers.

Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Mortenson: Regular guy gets big results

By KARIN RONNOW Chronicle Staff Writer

October 7, 2007, Sunday

Note: This is the last of a five part Sunday weekly feature by Bozeman Chornicle editor Karin Ronnow and photographer Deirdre Eitel who spent several weeks following Greg Mortenson and the work of Central Asia Institute in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the summer of 2007.

All five features are available on subscription to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle https://secure.pocatelloshops.com/Pioneer/subscribe.php?site=bozeman or from the office of Central Asia Institute after November 10th, 2007. Permission to reprint or use these articles in amy format or place must be obtained from the Chronicle first.

When Greg Mortenson was 3 months old, his parents packed him up in Minnesota and took him halfway around the world, to the East African country of Tanzania, where they would spend the next 14 years as Lutheran missionaries in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro.

“When he was 2 or 3 years old, one day I couldn't find him,” said his mother, Jerene Mortenson. “And I looked outside and there he sat in the pathway with an old beggar and the cookie jar.

“Greg was handing the old beggar cookies and the two of them were having this conversation. He didn't just give him something, they were talking. And that just sums up how Greg has been all his life,” she said.

Now, at 49, Greg Mortenson heads the Bozeman-based Central Asia Institute, a nonprofit organization he founded. Instead of cookies, he's delivering education to children, especially girls, in some of the most isolated villages of northern Pakistan and Afghanistan.

His success and a bestselling book about his life, “Three Cups of Tea,” has made him a bit of a celebrity - both at home and in the areas where he works - and that takes a toll on him and on his family. But it hasn't changed who he is at heart. He's one of those rare birds, driven by a sincere compassion for disenfranchised people about whom few others know or care.

“Even as a child I was deeply affected and disturbed by seeing really impoverished people starving or dying,” Mortenson said. “If I had extra food, I always wanted to share it. And now it's hard to keep my balance because I see so much poverty and hurting and suffering. It really takes a concerted effort, stamina and sometimes courage to remove yourself a little bit.

“But I always think it's important that you touch and smell and feel poverty, extreme poverty. You have to do that to understand it. You can't do it from a think tank in Washington, D.C.”

And he really means that, said retired Lt. Col. Ilyas Ahmad Mirza of Pakistan, a longtime friend of Mortenson's.

“He loves those people, he listens to them, he lives with them,” Mirza said. “Their houses are dirty and smelly, but it doesn't matter. Greg goes and stays with them for days. He's a different breed.”

REGULAR GUY

One thing Mortenson is not is vain. He's about as humble as they come. All of the attention he's getting, the success of “Three Cups of Tea,” the speaking engagements, newspaper and magazine articles, TV interviews, are seen by him solely as opportunities to build more schools.

He is not a man on whom the mantel of celebrity and greatness rest weightlessly. Rather, Mortenson is far more at ease with his self perception as "a regular guy."

He comes from truly humble beginnings. His family never had much money. After Tanzania, he went to high school in Minnesota, then volunteered for the U.S. Army and served as a medic in Germany for two years. “I joined in 1975, after Vietnam, when it was not cool.”

When he got back, he attended Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., where he played football on an NAIA II national championship team. He later transferred to the University of South Dakota, and earned degrees in chemistry and nursing.

He was a trauma nurse and a mountain climber before he started the Central Asia Institute. In 1995, he married Tara Bishop, a psychologist, and they now have two children, Amira, 11, and Khyber, 7.

Mortenson has some quirks, just like everyone else. He is constantly running late. He sometimes forgets appointments.

“I'm still not very socially adept at the wining and dining” part of fundraising, he said. “Often I show up late and I don't even have socks on.”

Perhaps it goes back to growing up in Africa; perhaps it is something more organic, something temperamental. Either way, he's not wired like most Americans.

It is one of his “maddening aspects,” Bishop agreed.

In his own defense, Mortenson said, “To me, the world is an oyster. I am very curious about a lot of things, so I take time to do everything, and now I am perpetually late. I'm just so busy,” he said.

He is that. He is on the road at least six months a year, overseas and crisscrossing the United States. After his book, "Three Cups of Tea," was published in 2006, life became increasingly hectic. The phone rings off the hook with people wanting him to come and speak. He gets hundreds of e-mails each day. People stop him on the street, in the coffee shop or at the airport.

“Our lives have really changed since the book was published, as far as the level of demand for his time,” Bishop said. “It was already building its own momentum, but until then, if they didn't go to a talk, people didn't know about him. Then all of the sudden it just geometrically took off.”

Mortenson's perpetual lateness is less of an issue overseas.

“In Baltistan, in the language, there is no sense of time,” Mortenson said. “You can say, ‘I go to Korphe,' which could mean you will be there tomorrow, or you were there yesterday, or you were there 10 years ago. Time is irrelevant. They don't have watches over there. I enjoy working like that, things work well and we get things done.”

OVER THERE

Nevertheless, when he gets to Pakistan, he still can't enter a room without great fanfare. A steady stream of people come to see him as soon as he arrives at the Indus Motel in Skardu.

“It's like he's a rock star or something,” Doug Chabot, a mountain climber and friend of Mortenson's from Bozeman, said of the scene at the Indus. “People will do anything for him. They just love being around him. It's like, ‘I'll just be standing over here in the corner trying to anticipate your needs.' ”

In July, some of the teachers at remote institute schools had traveled long distances to visit Mortenson during his week in Skardu. Although he has staff in country to make decisions and keep the ball rolling, they often defer to him. Besides, Mortenson is the one who people want to see and talk to.

“He has this incredibly busy schedule when he goes over there, because not only is he checking on schools, but he has all these relationships with people,” Chabot said. “He doesn't sleep much when he's over there. When he's in work mode, it's pretty impressive.”

RETREAT

When he isn't working, Mortenson is often hunkered down in his basement office at home. The small space has, over the years, become his sanctuary.

The 8-by-10-foot room is cluttered with photos, satellite phones, old Texas Instrument calculators, camera parts and books, lots of books, on all four walls up to the ceiling. They are organized into sections on terrorism, poverty, nonprofits, fundraising, Pakistan, Afghanistan and history.

“I don't drink much or smoke,” he said. “The one vice I have is I am a voracious reader and I buy a lot of books.”

Over the years he has developed a nearly encyclopedic knowledge of the history, culture and religion of Afghanistan and Pakistan. He also has learned the languages spoken in the areas where he works - Balti, Urdu and Farsi.

As a kid, his mom said, “Greg's strongest areas were language, math and science.”

A few minutes later, she went back to that thought. “He does have a particular facility with languages. When he was 8 or 9 years old, we were in Rome and the maid came into the hotel room and said something. My husband and I couldn't understand her.

“But Greg said, ‘She's asking are we leaving today and should she change the sheets or just make the beds.' It amazed me. That was what she was asking us.”

Mortenson attended an international school his parents started in Tanzania, and that might have contributed to his ear for language.

But his appetite for knowledge is just a part of who he is.

“We had a set of children's encyclopedias and he started with A and read through the whole set,” Jerene Mortenson said. “We didn't have a television. Greg liked facts. I remember he got a ‘Guinness Book of World Records' that really intrigued him.”

These days, he prefers nonfiction to fiction. And he prefers reading to television, music or even parties.

“He doesn't watch movies,” Bishop said. “He doesn't have a pulse at all on popular media.”

He also doesn't, at this point, have a lot of friends he socializes with at home, Bishop said.

“He doesn't have time for it. His friends are his staff. They get him, his quirkiness,” she said. “He's a little cynical about western, American culture, the power stuff that's such a big part of how we interact here, the teasing, the one-up-manship and the humor around belittling. It baffles him.”

RELATIONSHIPS

Instead, he focuses on relationships he needs overseas to accomplish his goals of literacy and peace - a lesson he said he learned from his dad, Dempsey.

“My dad worked closely with the Tanzanians, especially his handyman, John Moshe,” Mortenson said. “The expats often scoffed at him, saying he should have the upper hand and be the boss. But he believed everybody was part of the team.”

Mortenson has integrated that philosophy into his own work in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“If anything happens to me, everything will be taken care of over there,” he said. “We have amazing staff and we have amazing community support.”

That staff, his central team, is largely a result of serendipity, composed of people that Mortenson tripped over in his work and later hired. But the team is devoted to Mortenson. And the feeling is mutual.

“I consider my staff to be family,” Mortenson said. “They are prepared to give up everything they have to help CAI. They are all family men who have kids and wives. But they are willing to be gone from their families even more than me, for months at a time.

“They are the ones who go to the village with the hardened mullah, trying to convince them to send girls to school, who really push the envelope in working with different ethnic groups, Sunni and Shia, and different politicians, bringing the hardest opponents together with the proponents and work until they come up with some solution.”

Most of the staff are not highly educated, either, he said, “yet they are willing to work very had to learn difficult skills.”

They have flaws, he said. Sometimes they push too hard when it might be better to give people time.

“I love them dearly as my family, but sometimes I have to remind them that to do business, sometimes it takes" time, he said.

TIME UNPLUGGED

While a lot of the village work might be handled by the in-country staff, the fundraising and public speaking is exclusively Mortenson's job. And it takes a toll.

“The success of all this has forced me to become a much more public person,” he said. “I'm rather shy and reserved by nature, and at first it was really hard on me. But the more I do this, the more comfortable it is. And I really want to do this because I want to promote education and promote peace. But I have to raise money.

“The hard part is that I've been married for 12 years and more than 65 months of that time, I haven't been with my family.”

“It's a tricky thing for Greg,” Bishop said. “I think he would like to do it all. I don't think can't is in his vocabulary. He really is committed to those little kids over there. And he has a huge heart.

“But I miss him, that's the biggest thing. I'd like more time with him. That's the part that makes me sad.”

The other thing Bishop would like her husband to do is take a little better care of himself; he's paying a price for the pace he keeps.

“I get frustrated because his life is so overwhelming,” she said. “I'm happy for his success and what it means for the world and for him. But I wish he could have some more time to catch up with himself, to be able to slow down a little bit and fully think. He's truly an introvert and he's not getting what all introverts need, which is time unplugged."

Karin Ronnow is at kronnow@dailychronicle.com

http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2007/10/07/news/000guy.txt

S.D. connections helped author of book (10-05-07)

2007-10-05T09:54:00.000-06:00

Sioux Falls Argus Leader

S.D. connections helped author of book

By David Kranz

October 5, 2007, Friday

If you have been in a bookstore in recent months, you probably have seen "Three Cups of Tea" prominently displayed on the shelf.

I was intrigued by the cover but never picked it up. It wasn't until Jack Rentschler told me about it that my interest was piqued, particularly by the South Dakota connection.

Greg Mortenson's story, co-authored with David Oliver Relin, is a powerful account of the challenges he's faced in Pakistan and Afghanistan. From those major hurdles came a commitment from him to help make a difference in the area of education. Mortenson, a 1983 graduate of the Univ. of South Dakota with a bachelor's of liberal studies and an degree in nursing, tells the compelling story that began in 1993, rising out of his failed pursuit to reach the peak of K2 in Pakistan, the world's second highest mountain.

After descending the mountain, he was separated from those he traveled with, coming upon a poverty-stricken Pakistani village - a place that left a permanent impression in his mind, a place where children had little or no opportunity to receive an education.

Failure to conquer the mountain led Mortenson to reprioritize his life, focusing on becoming a humanitarian. His goal would be improving and expanding educational opportunities in these countries.
He only would be content making sure these children's educational needs were met, particularly addressing the educational opportunities for girls. Today, 58 schools have grown out of Mortenson's mission in Pakistan and Afghanistan, educating more than 20,000 children. He is founder and executive director of the nonprofit Central Asia Institute, an organization dedicated to promoting education to underprivileged children.

Achieving the goal would create new concerns, resulting in his campaign against Islamic fundamentalists who would sometimes find their members in the religious schools.

Mortenson's ultimate objective to educate in the face of the turmoil of war is defined in a chapter aptly titled, "The Enemy Is Ignorance."

"If we try to resolve terrorism with military might and nothing else, then we will be no safer than we were before 9-11. If we truly want a legacy of peace for our children, we need to understand that this is a war that will ultimately be won with books, not with bombs," Mortenson writes.

His acknowledgements in the book include help he received along the way and covers four pages, including these mentions: "From South Dakota, and my USD alma mater, I thank four noteworthy individuals who touched my life: Lars Overskei, Tom Brokaw, Dr. Dan Birkeland, and Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today and the D.C.-based Freedom Forum, from which I received the 2004 Free Spirit Award."

Incidentally, Brokaw was one of 580 celebrities he wrote to, asking for money to build a school in that village. Of those 580 letters, Brokaw was the only one who responded with money.

Mortenson returned in 2006 to deliver the USD commencement address.

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/COLUMNISTS0102/710050336/1160/OPINION01

TCT holding ground (10-02-07)

2007-10-02T12:37:00.000-06:00

Three Cups of Tea is # 5 this week on NY Times bestseller list (paperback nonfiction) for week # 34

PAPERBACK NONFICTION
Top 5 at a Glance
1. EAT, PRAY, LOVE, by Elizabeth Gilbert
2. INTO THE WILD, by Jon Krakauer
3. 90 MINUTES IN HEAVEN, by Don Piper with Cecil Murphey
4. THE GLASS CASTLE, by Jeannette Walls
5. THREE CUPS OF TEA, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Complete Paperback Nonfiction List »

Thanks!
Greg Mortenson

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER (09-29-07)

2007-09-29T12:20:00.000-06:00

Mortenson has antidote to ways of war

By MARK TRAHANTP-I EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/333580_trahant30.html

A phenomenon hit Seattle last week. Everywhere Greg Mortenson went, people lined up to listen to his simple message about how to change the world.
A week ago at Town Hall the lines started two hours before the event. It was the same at Beacon Hill, Green Lake and Bainbridge Island. Every seat filled while more people squeezed into every available space, sitting on the floor or hearing the talk from the hallway. Hundreds of people were turned away.
What is this message that we're so ready to hear? It's the antidote to the ways of war.
Think about the way we fight terrorism. We are at war. We fear what they will do. Fear is the key word.
But there's an alternative. "If you promote peace, that's based on hope," Mortenson said at his Bainbridge talk. "The real enemy is ignorance because it's based on hatred."
Mortenson's book, "Three Cups of Tea," tells the story about how building schools -- mostly girls' schools -- is the surest way to change the world.
He said when he first wrote the book the publishers sent him a mock-up cover with the subtitle: "One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations...One School at a Time." This wasn't the message he wanted to send. He suggested: "One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ...One School at a Time."
But the publishers were firm. This was a first book -- and the odds against it were great because most nonfiction titles don't make money. So the hard cover came out and it didn't sell well.
So when the paperback was published the peace subtitle surfaced. Something worked because "Three Cups of Tea" has been on The New York Times' bestseller list for 34 weeks. This occurred because book clubs, women's groups, schools and ordinary Americans would read a copy and then buy another for someone else.
I know how this for a fact. I've known Greg for a few years and was on a committee that gave him an award for his work. A few months ago, he sent me a dozen copies of the paperback. I gave them away -- and many of the people I gave copies to, told me they read it, went out and bought more copies to pass along. It was a network of hope.
It's the same with Pennies for Peace. That started with Mortenson's first promise to build a school in a remote Pakistan village. He wrote letters to celebrities -- even getting a check for $100 from Tom Brokaw. But it wasn't enough to do anything. Then he talked to a class. A fourth-grader in Wisconsin suggested a donation from his piggy bank. Six weeks later those school kids had raised 62,342 pennies.
"It wasn't adults. It was children, reaching out to children half-way around the world," he said. "What can a penny buy? You can buy a pencil with a penny. And that gives a child hope. If you have hope, you can do anything." Soon after he raised enough for the first school, some $12,000.
Mortenson's premise starts with an African proverb: "If you educate a boy, you educate an individual, but if you educate a girl, you educate a community."
When a boy goes to school, it's assumed he will leave his village and work. But a girl stays. She grows into a woman, bears healthier children, and encourages them to be educated.
Consider the word "jihad." We know about that word in one context -- a violent quest. But the word has other meanings -- reflecting other pursuits. But before beginning a jihad, you ask permission from your mother, Mortenson said. If she is educated -- she's less likely to give approval for a violent mission.
Those who dismiss education say that many of the 9/11 hijackers were educated -- and that's true, Mortenson said. "But none of their mothers were educated."
There is an urgent need to do more, to build more schools. "There are 145 million children without education -- and the numbers are going up -- because of slavery, gender discrimination, religious intolerance and corrupt governments. It only costs $1 per month, per child to change that, roughly $6 to $8 billion per year.
Last week the Bush administration asked Congress for another $190 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Which plan is more cost effective?
On the other hand, the schooling of Afghanistan is "the most exciting news" you've never read, says Mortenson. When the Taliban was in power, only 800,000 kids were in school. Today more than 5 million children go to school -- and 1.8 million are girls. That's where we should be putting our money.
The people who stood in lines to hear Mortenson already know this. We are a nation with a generous people. We could make this world better by doubling our efforts to build schools. We even know where to find the money: Spend a few billions less on war.
Mark Trahant is editor of the editorial page. E-mail: marktrahant@seattlepi.com. For more information: www.ikat.org.

Young Audiences Drink In ‘Three Cups Of Tea' Author (09-26-07)

2007-09-26T09:48:00.000-06:00

KITSAP SUN (Washington)

Young Audiences Drink In ‘Three Cups Of Tea' Author

By Tristan Baurick
Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Bainbridge Island - It's been said that Greg Mortenson has won more "hearts and minds" in a Taliban-dominated Afghanistan than the mightiest military force on earth.

What's this affable ex-mountain climber's secret weapon?

"Literate, educated girls," Mortenson told a crowd of students at Bainbridge High School on Wednesday. "You can drop bombs but unless you educate girls, a society won't change."

Mortenson is the subject of the bestselling book "Three Cups of Tea." Written in partnership with journalist David Oliver Relin, the book recounts how Mortenson -- then a dedicated mountaineer -- veered from the summit of K2 and blazed a new path toward improved education in some of the most isolated regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Mortenson, through his Central Asia Institute, has built more than 60 schools that support 18,000 students per year.

A better-educated population acts as a bulwark against violent extremist groups that regularly recruit from the region's poor and illiterate, Mortenson said. And better-educated girls make for future mothers with important lessons to impart to their sons.

"There's an old saying: 'When you educate a boy, you educate an individual,'" he said. "'But when you educate a girl, you educate a community.'"

The notion of putting girls in classrooms wasn't an easy sell in conservative Islamic regions, but Mortenson's vision has earned many believers abroad and at home.

Bainbridge senior Alex Oechsli is one of Mortenson's most recent converts.

"International relations start at the basic level with education," Oechsli said after Mortenson's speech. "Going town by town, person by person is how you make a real difference. That's how (Mortenson) has gone about it. He's shown the right way to do it."

Oechsli and many other students library branch manager Cindy Harrison. "I think that's because people are hungry for a positive, uplifting story from that part of the world, which seems entangled in an impossible situation."

At an afternoon appearance at Eagle Harbor Books on Bainbridge Island, over 200 people from 45 different book clubs attended a talk, where the bookstore said that he has sold more copies of "Three Cups Of Tea" than Harry Potter books.

With thousands of children enrolled in schools where none previously existed, "Three Cups of Tea" has no shortage of inspiring true tales.

raised their hands when asked whether they'd read "Three Cups of Tea." The book, which has sold over a half-million copies, was assigned reading in Bainbridge High social studies classes and was on the summer reading list for Poulsbo's West Sound Academy, where Mortenson also spoke Wednesday.

The Bainbridge Island Public Library co-sponsored an evening event with Mortenson that was expected to draw thousands to the Bainbridge High gym.

"This book has resonated in a special way with people," said Bainbridge

One of Mortenson's favorites is the story of a girl who grew up in a remote mountain village and went on to become her region's first health-care worker. After graduating from one of Mortenson's schools and receiving a college education, the girl helped dramatically reduce the annual rate of women dying during childbirth.

"It wasn't easy for her," said Mortenson. "Young boys threw stones at her when she tried to go to school. Teachers refused to teach her. She had to sit outside and listen to lessons outside. But she graduated. She learned how to deliver babies and about immunizations, and not one woman has died giving birth in her area."

If the goal of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and other parts of the Islamic world is peace, Mortenson argues that spending money on books produces a much higher return than bombs.

"We spent $95 billion last year (for the war) in Iraq," he said. "That's $10 million per hour. But it takes just a few dollars per month to send a child to school. If we did that, think of the incredible change that would have on the world."

NBC Nightly News interviews Greg Mortenson on Sept 28th (Event Cancelled)

2007-09-25T11:36:00.000-06:00

Greg Mortenson will be interviewed by Brian Williams on Sept 28th, please tune in and spread the word.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19995443/

Event Cancelled - Future Date TBD...

The Times Standard (Eureka, CA) - One penny at a time (09-20-07)

2007-09-20T09:02:00.000-06:00

The Times Standard (Eureka, CA)
One penny at a time
Sharon Letts
September 20, 2007

”When I look into the eyes of children in Afghanistan and Pakistan, I see my own children. I want my own kids and their counterparts to live in peace, but that will not happen unless we give them alternatives to the cycle of terrorism and war.”

-- Greg Mortenson, founder and executive director of Central Asia Institute
Rabia Sher of Arcata is planning on collecting pennies -- a lot of them.

For she knows the true value of the copper currency that many Americans consider a nuisance.

”A penny isn't valued in the states any longer,” said Sher, founder of the Roshni Center for Women in northern Pakistan, during a recent presentation at Grant Elementary School in Eureka. “But, a penny will buy a pencil in Pakistan, and one pencil will allow a child to go to school.”

Pennies for Peace is an international campaign developed by the Central Asia Institute. The campaign is focused on raising the awareness of children all over the globe about the need to help others. The program also builds schools in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Sher initially saw a need for improving economic growth through educational training while visiting Pakistan in 2000.

Since that trip, she has been working to enlighten people to the plight of the Pakistanis, first opening the Roshni Center for Women -- a place that helps young women learn skills, such as sewing. Sher's latest crusade is the Pennies for Peace campaign, as well as a letter-writing project involving schoolchildren.

”I read Greg Mortenson's book, 'Three Cups of Tea,' and I thought, 'He's telling my story,'” Sher explained of the man who founded the Central Asia Institute. “After I finished reading it, I called the Pennies for Peace office in Montana and told Director Christiana Leitinger that I wanted to bring that program to Humboldt.”

The Central Asia Institute was established in 1996 after Mortenson made a trip up K2 -- the second highest mountain in the world --and after a stay in the northern mountain village of Karakoram in Pakistan, where he saw a need and was compelled to help the children there, with a bigger picture of global peace.

According to its Web site (www.ikat.org), the organization's mission is to “promote and support community-based education and literacy programs, especially for girls, in mountain regions of Central Asia.”

”The theory is that if you educate a boy, you educate an individual,” Sher said, “but, if you educate a girl, you educate the community. Some men in Pakistan feel that it's evil to educate women, but things can and are changing slowly.”

Sher said that part of that change is due to the education of children, but to get that education, she said, the simplest needs must be met -- like owning a pencil.

The penny, or 1 percent of a dollar, represents the 1 percent of a gross domestic product goal set by the United Nations in the 1970s (www.bea.gov). The goal was for wealthy countries to give foreign aid to impoverished nations on a yearly basis.

Sher is now bringing Pennies for Peace to Humboldt County -- one school at time. The program involves children dropping pennies into a jar in the classroom. Sher has also created a pen-pal program, which will encourage local children to write letters to children in northern Pakistan.

The pen pals and the Pennies for Peace campaign are two separate projects for Sher. She said that the pennies gathered will go to the Central Asia Institute and will be put toward the building of schools, while the letters are a more personal goal that Sher feels will enrich the lives of the children.

”The children there live in extreme poverty,” she said. “Most of them will never leave the village. I was the first foreigner they had ever seen. The letters will open up a whole new world for them.”

Grant Elementary School has joined in the campaign, and third-grade teacher Carol Goodwyn is just one of the teachers involved in both Pennies for Peace and the pen-pal program.

”Very few people actually hand-write letters today,” Goodwyn said. “Many of the children are very interested in writing letters to children their age in another country. Starting friendly letter writing also fits in our core curriculum and with the California state standards for third grade.

”The children will be able to address the standards in a real-life way, outside of the school or the family,” Goodwyn added. “It will give them a whole new perspective on what a letter can do.”

As for the Pennies for Peace campaign, Goodwyn said the school is already off to a good start.

”The day after Rabia gave her presentation on Pennies for Peace,” she said, “a fourth-grade boy came into school with a bag of pennies and said, 'Where's the jar?'”

Grant Elementary School Principal Bill Cannady said he's happy to be a part of both campaigns, which, he said, follow the school's philosophy.

”It goes right along with the five core values from the Community of Caring established by Eunice Kennedy Shriver that our school practices: caring, respect, responsibility, trust and family,” he said. “It's what we have to do in this world.”

For more information about Pennies for Peace, visit the Web site at www.penniesforpeace.org. To find out how to get involved in Pennies for Peace locally, or to be a part of the pen-pal program, call Rabia Sher at 826-7123, or e-mail her at thelostcaravan@yahoo.com.

http://www.times-standard.com/lifestyle/ci_6946886
(c) 2007 Times Standard. All Rights Reserved. Used With Permission.

Montana State University Lecture by Greg Mortenson

2007-09-18T10:46:00.000-06:00

Greg Mortenson, the Bozeman man who has garnered international acclaim for his efforts to build schools in remote, mountainous regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, challenged MSU students to find their own ways to change the world. http://www.montana.edu/wwwprov/

Watch the event

PBS NOW on the News with Maria Hinojosa (09-14-07)

2007-09-14T13:57:00.000-06:00

Interview Excerpts:

"If you look at 9/11 highjackers, certainly they were educated, some even had university degrees, but nobody really checked their mothers, who were nearly all illiterate.""The international community, the Pakistan and Afghan governments and the U.S. really failed to go to the next level and provide education to the children.""[Mullahs and Imams] are even more antagonistic towards girls going to schools because they do know if the girls have an education, they pretty much have lost their power.""If we put one percent of the money that we put in the war on terror into education, it could have a profound difference."

More details can be found at:

http://www.pbs.org/now/news/309.html intro
http://www.pbs.org/now/news/309-transcript.html transcript

Three Cups of Tea is # 5 NY Times bestseller (09-13-07)

2007-09-13T14:03:00.000-06:00

Three Cups of Tea is # 5 NY Times bestseller (nonfiction paperback) for Sunday 9/23/07
Week # 32 in a row since release and surging!
Over 500,000 copies sold now.
Thanks for your support.

Greg Mortenson

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/bestseller/index.html

CAI @ ISNA Convention (09-01-07)

2007-09-01T10:07:00.000-06:00

For the first time "Central Asia Institute" had a presence at the ISNA convention, Out of a crowd of 40 thousand, over 1500 attendees stopped by the CAI booth and picked up a copy of the book. A dozen volunteers helped in distributing books and booklets and spread the good word.

The Eugene Register-Guard (08-02-07)

2007-08-02T10:23:00.000-06:00

The Eugene Register-Guard
In final sentencing, judge upholds defendant's term
By Bill Bishop
Thursday, August 2, 2007

A federal judge on Wednesday reimposed a four-year, three-month prison sentence on Jonathan Christopher Mark Paul, a longtime leader in the radical environmental movement and the last of 10 defendants indicted and sentenced in Eugene for conspiracy to commit arson to promote their views.

Paul's lawyer, Marc Blackman of Portland, disputed the sentence during a June 5 hearing, claiming the judge lacked authority or failed to follow the law to set the prison term. U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken set Wednesday's hearing to settle the matter. She ultimately refuted Blackman's objections and let her sentence stand.

Additionally, Aiken ordered Paul to read the best-selling book "Three Cups of Tea," and to write a book review for her before reporting to prison on Oct. 1. The book is a true account of Greg Mortenson's effort to combat terrorism by building 55 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Aiken also read a lengthy letter she received from Paul's co-defendant Stanislas Meyerhoff, who is serving a 13-year prison term - the longest meted to any in the conspiracy. Meyerhoff has repeatedly renounced violence, cooperated with authorities and pledged to work peacefully to help others and improve society. Meyerhoff's letter recounted his work teaching Spanish and English to fellow inmates.

Paul also has publicly renounced arson as a means to end animal suffering and environmental exploitation. He refused to name others in the conspiracy when he signed a plea deal to settle his case.

In court, Aiken challenged him to "walk the walk," and prove through his actions in prison and after his release that his stated commitment to nonviolence is true. She told Paul on Wednesday that Meyerhoff's letter and Mortenson's book are meant to inspire him to find his own ways of coming back into the community.

"Sentences have to be about giving people a chance to be held accountable by society and yet come back and be productive," Aiken told him. "I read that (Meyerhoff's letter) because he is walking a path you say you'll walk. And I expect the same."

Aiken has taken time during each of the 10 sentencing hearings to offer similar guidance tailored to each of the defendants in the conspiracy. She compared Paul's inherited wealth, intelligence, education and family support with the relative poverty and social obstacles Mortenson overcame to build schools in Asia.

"You can do far better than what you did," she told Paul.

In a public statement after court, Paul, 41, urged fellow activists to reject arson as a weapon in their fight.

In earlier statements he said he rejected arson after helping burn down the Cavel West horse meat packing plant in Redmond in 1997. He became a volunteer firefighter / medical technician and went on more than 2,000 calls in Southern Oregon - once treating a man whom he knew was a bear poacher, another time rescuing a three-week-old kitten on a highway.

On Wednesday he said arson defiles the belief that all life is sacred and violates the tenet of nonviolence embraced by the environmental movement.

www.registerguard.com/news/2007/08/02/f1.cr.lastfamilycase.0802.p1.php?section=cityregion
Copyright 2007 Eugene Register Guard. All Rights Reserved.

Rocky Mountain News (07-16-07)

2007-07-16T08:50:00.000-06:00

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_recreation/article/0,2777,DRMN_23950_5632203,00.html

Voice of America (07-13-07)

2007-07-13T08:34:00.000-06:00

"Three Cups of Tea" (3CT) on "Voice of America" (VOA). Newscast aired globally today. For audio - go to link:

http://www.voanews.com/english/AmericanLife/2007-07-09-voa36.cfm

NY Times Bestseller for July 22, 2007 (07-11-07)

2007-07-11T19:24:00.000-06:00

Three Cups of Tea 3CT is #4 on NY Times bestseller list (nonfiction paperback). 3CT on NY list for 23 weeks in a row! Listing in NY Times Book section for July 15 and 22.

Also #2 on Booksense for four months now, which is the compilation of independent bookstore: www.booksense.com/bestsellers/index.jsp#tradenonfic

Thanks!
Greg Mortenson

BestLife Magazine (07-07-07)

2007-07-07T20:56:00.000-06:00

Greg Mortenson is featured in Best Life for July 2007, to read the article click on:

http://www.bestlifeonline.com/cms/publish/my-cause-work/My_Fight_Against_Terror.shtml

Rochester MN endorses "Three Cups of Tea" (07-06-07)

2007-07-06T23:40:00.000-06:00

Rochester MN endorses "Three Cups of Tea" for their Rochester Reads 2008:
http://www.rochesterreads.org/freepoll/threecups.html

Please vote for "Three Cups of Tea" at:
http://www.rochesterreads.org/index_vote3.html

"Three Cups of Tea" is moving up (07-04-07)

2007-07-04T21:46:00.000-06:00

"Three Cups of Tea" is July 15 # 4 (highest yet) NY Times bestseller for week 22 in a row. Thank you everyone (especially from all the kids in Pakistan and Afghanistan)!
Greg Mortenson

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/bestseller/index.html

CAI at the APPNA Convention (07-01-07)

2007-07-01T14:16:00.000-06:00

The Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA) invited CAI to their annual convention in Orlando, FL to help raise awareness among the Pakistani Physician community. CAI volunteers Sadia and Tauheed Ashraf manned a booth and Greg Mortenson gave a presentation to a full house. Special thanks to Dr. Nadeem Kazi, Dr. Tariq Cheema and Dr. Saima Zafar for their help in making this event a success for CAI.

Greg Mortenson being interviewed by an international news channel

Greg Mortenson signing books

Chicago Fundraiser (04-21-07)

2007-04-21T14:01:00.000-06:00

Chicago fundraiser was a success, a lot of people from different walks of life supported our cause. CAI was able to raise $142k from a crowd of about 460 people. With everyone's help we can make progress and fight illiteracy. TCF (The Citizens Foundation) donated books for the next 3 years, special thanks to the president of TCF Mr. Danial Noorani. CAI and the children of Pakistan and Afghanistan truly appreciate this kind gesture.