Redmond Library Book Club: Three Cups of Tea

This is a one time book discussion for anyone that wants to discuss the book selected for the King County Reads at KCLS program. Three Cups of Tea by David Relin, tells the stirring tale of Greg Mortenson, an American mountain climber and nurse who becomes an unlikely champion of education in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Tom Brokaw calls the book "one of the most remarkable adventure stories of our time".

Date: Oct 22, 2008
Time: 7:00 to 9:00 pm
More information: Click here.

About Greg Mortensen
Greg Mortenson is the co-founder of nonprofit Central Asia Institute, Pennies For Peace, and co-author of New York Times bestseller Three Cups of Tea, which has been a #1 New York Times bestseller for 82 weeks since its January 2007 release, and was Time Magazine Asia Book of The Year.

The Central Asia Institute’s mission is to promote and support community-based education, especially for girls, in remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The philosophy is to empower the local people through their own initiative.

As of 2010, Central Asia Institute has successfully established 145 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, which provide (or have provided) education to over 64,000 students, with a emphasis on girls’ education.

The following picture shows little girls from Khanday School getting their uniforms. Khanday is a village in the Hushe Valley, which is in remote northeastern Pakistan.

On August 14th, 2008, Pakistan’s government announced on its Independence Day, that Greg Mortenson will receive Pakistan’ highest civil award, Sitara-e-Pakistan (“Star of Pakistan”) for his courage and humanitarian effort to promote education, and literacy in rural areas for the last fifteen years. Pakistan’s President will confer the award on March 23rd, 2009, in an official ceremony in Islamabad.

In 2009, journalist Karin Ronnow and photographer Teru Kuwayama traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan several times to document Greg Mortenson and Central Asia Institute projects. The 44-page report, Journey of Hope, is the result of their in-depth visit.