Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson To be discussed on August 4, 2010 at 6:30

Three Cups of Tea is the true story of a humanitarian mission. In 1993, a young American mountain climber named Greg Mortenson stumbles into a tiny village high in Pakistan’s beautiful and desperately poor Karakoram Himalaya region. Sick, exhausted, and depressed after a failing to scale the summit of K2, Mortenson regains his strength and his will to live thanks to the generosity of the people of the village of Korphe. Before he leaves, Mortenson makes a vow that will profoundly change both the villagers’ lives and his own—he will return and build them a school.

The book traces how Mortenson kept this promise (and many more) in the high country of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The region is remote and dangerous, a notorious breeding ground for Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists. Mortenson was kidnapped and threatened with death. He endured local rivalries, deep misunderstandings, jealousy, and corruption, not to mention treacherous roads and epic weather. But he believed passionately that balanced, non-extremist education, for boys and girls alike, is the most effective way to combat the violent intolerance that breeds terrorism. To date, Mortenson’s Central Asia Institute has constructed fifty-five schools, and his work continues.

1. What made Mortenson particularly ripe for transformation into a humanitarian? Has anything similar happened in your own life?

2. Is Mortenson someone you’d like to get to know, work with, or have as a neighbor or friend?

3. At the heart of the book is a powerful but simple political message: we each as individuals have the power to change the world, one cup of tea at a time. What do you think of the “one cup of tea at a time” philosophy? Do you think Mortenson’s vision can work for lasting and meaningful change?

4. Have you ever known anyone like Mortenson? Have you ever had the experience of making a difference yourself through acts of generosity, aid, or leadership?

5. The Balti people are fierce yet extremely hospitable, kind yet rigid, determined to better themselves yet stuck in the past. Discuss your reactions to them and the other groups that Mortenson tries to help.

6. Discuss this sense of indebtedness as key to Mortenson’s character. Why was Mortenson compelled to return to the region again and again? Does he repay his debt by the end of the book?

7. Discuss the concept of paradise, lost and regained, and how it influences Mortenson’s mission.

8. Discuss the various facets of Mortenson’s character—the freewheeling mountain climber, the ER nurse, the devoted son and brother. Do you view him as continuing the work his father began?

9. “I expected something like this from an ignorant village mullah, but to get those kinds of letters from my fellow Americans made me wonder whether I should just give up,” Mortenson remarked after he started getting hate mail after 9/11. What was your reaction to the letters Mortenson received?

10. Discuss Mortenson’s repeated brushes with failure and how they influenced your opinion of Mortenson and his efforts.

11. Discuss the pros and cons of bringing “civilization” to the uncomplicated mountain community.

12. Discuss your own experiences with foreign cultures—things that you have learned, mistakes you have made, misunderstandings you have endured.