Tea and Empathy

Slowly and painfully, we are seeing worldwide acceptance of the fact that the wealthier and more technologically advanced countries have a responsibility to help the underdeveloped ones.... Not only through a sense of charity, but also because only in this way can we ever hope to see any permanent peace and security for ourselves. --from Schoolhouse in the Clouds by Sir Edmund Hillary (quoted on page 53)


Greg Mortenson is a former mountaineer who, after a failed attempt to climb K2, wandered into a remote village called Korphe in Pakistan. The surprised and bemused villagers welcomed the lone, tall foreigner. Mortenson saw that their “school” was flat area in a field, attended by a few boys and almost no girls. Moved by the villagers' kindness in the face of their poverty, Mortenson promised their headman that he would return to build them a proper school. At the time, he wasn't quite sure how he would do this, being neither himself wealthy nor in the habit of building schools.

The book is co-authored by David Oliver Relin and appears to be written primarily from his perspective from interviews with Mortenson and others. He signed the introduction, “In Mr. Mortenson's Orbit,” and the acknowledgments.

What immediately attracted me to the book was the idea of a secular education offered for both boys and girls as a way of promoting peace. This happens to be an idea that I hold dear, that is, that education improves life by empowering individuals, regardless of culture. What is especially touching here is that many of the people Mortenson encounters understand that education is hard work and seem only too willing to put their backs—and bare feet—into it to see that their children learn to read, write and do some basic math, even if they themselves never get that chance.

The book also chronicles the education of Greg Mortenson in many respects, from his childhood as the son of missionaries in Tanzania, to the hapless writer of fund-raising letters upon his return from Pakistan. Yet, eventually the funds for the first school came from Jean Hoerni, an elderly man who'd made his fortune helping to develop the silicon chip and who was one of the founders of the company that would become Teledyne. He'd also climbed in the area of Pakistan where Mortenson was building the first school. The check came to Mortenson's P.O. box with a note not to screw up. Upon his death, Hoerni bequeathed the funds for many more schools.

Not that Mortenson didn't face opposition in Pakistan, of course. He was even kidnapped once. There were other, more subtle roadblocks as Mortenson learned that, well, people saw him as a rich American and wanted a piece of him. This, too, he has to learn from, walking the line between not letting himself be deterred from what he had to do and not offering insult to anyone. Dishonor is often paid back roughly.

While Relin confesses that perhaps he admires Mortenson a bit too much to be objective, at least he doesn't try to make Mortenson a faultless saint. He shows failure, he shows the irritation of people stateside with him, but he also shows that his heart is good. While the subtitle is “One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time,” it's clear from the very first page that Mortenson could not act without the help of a lot of people, both in country and in the West. (N.B. It's no longer subtitled “To Fight Terrorism” as Epinions has it labeled)

There is humor and irony in the writing, which is more journalistic in style than simple prose. While I hesitate to call it great, it is descriptive, and gives one a sense of the breathtaking surroundings. The reader also has the sense of hearing the words directly from the various people. In addition, there are roughly 20 black and white plates in the middle of the book, some of which were taken by Mortenson.

At the back of the book is a list of things individuals can do to help. I, for one, will put my money where my mouth is, and intend to donate monthly for the next year to the Central Asia Institute—the organization set up by Jean Hoerni to continue building schools. In addition, my copy of the book will be donated to the local public library.

I recommend the book for its story of success despite failure, for dogged determination.