Working Tuesday

It's been a busy week so much so that I barely had the energy to turn on the computer and leave my prints. There is a pile of things waiting for me to clear but I wanted to share about a cause which has touched me greatly.

I've completed Three Cups of Tea, an inspiring book that brought tears to my eyes. An American mountaineer, who failed in his mission to climb the treacherous K2, ended up building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan because of the hospitality of these two countries, which are often misunderstood by the Western world. One learns about the resilience of communities who are often living on the brink of starvation and lack proper resources. Yet they are open enough to understand the importance of education and sometimes, even for the girls. In these countries where most families don't believe in educating girls who will be married off eventually.  Greg Mortenson is slowly making inroads and he is helped by a group of natives who would be willing to die for him if necessary - that is how committed they are to the cause of education for their people. Mortenson has co founded an organisation that makes it possible for girls and women to become doctors, and forgotten villages lost in the uncharted frontiers of this region to have schools, the Central Asia Institute. And he has come a long way from speaking to six attendees in a auditorium ( thousands fill stadiums and drive hours just to hear him speak now) but what's closest to his heart is still educating girls and boys in Pakistan and Afghanistan. And in doing so, with no ulterior motives or agenda except providing education to the most rural villages, he has made more progress than some say, perhaps the military or any foreign policy in the fight against terrorism.

I too advocate that education is the way to peace, not artillery and books, not bombs, will help people develop civil societies and progress as a country. Reading his story, and now on the second book, Stones into Schools, is timely as I plan my Christmas project. (More details to come) It has been a dream to visit Afghanistan - a country with awe-inspiring and yet treacherous landscapes and to learn more about her people who have endured so much. For now, it is a dream and perhaps a possibility in more peaceful times. Which is why I read into the night and try to understand this world of its own through the eyes of Mortenson.