Greg Mortenson, co-author of the best-seller Three Cups of Tea, was awarded the Austin College Leadership Award on March 5 for building 78 secular schools and counting in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The author, who is the director of the Montana-based Central Asia Institute, a nonprofit organization that helps fund these schools, addressed about 750 people at the Belo Mansion in Dallas.

Mortenson believes poverty, illiteracy and ignorance are what allow extremist groups like the Taliban to recruit more followers.

“We can leave these children with a legacy of peace, not violence,” he said. “Education is the best antidote to extremism, and far better than weapons or bombs.”

A major part of Mortenson’s mission is building schools that serve girls along with boys, a rare concept in this male-dominated society before he started his work in the mid-1990s.

In 2000, Afghanistan had about 800,000 students in school. Now, there are around 7.2 million, and 2 million of those are girls.

Despite these increased numbers, in the last two years, the Taliban has shut down 500 schools in Afghanistan and 200 in Pakistan. About 80 to 90 percent of those were girls schools.

Mortenson said that one reason they are targeting girls schools is because sons, by custom, must get permission from their mothers before joining the extremist group. If a mother is educated, she will most likely not approve.

“The greatest fear is not a bullet, but a pen, because [the Taliban] lose their ability to get future recruits,” Mortenson said.

He also noted that educating girls is important because it helps reduce infant mortality rates and decreases the population explosions that plague the region.

Three Cups of Tea, which has been on The New York Times best-sellerlist for more than 100 weeks, was given its title from advice provided to Mortenson from Haji Ali, a wise man from Korphe, Pakistan. This was the first village to receive one of Mortenson’s schools after he stumbled upon the community when he failed to climb the K2 mountain.

Ali emphasized the need to build relationships and learn how to respect the people’s customs by taking time to “share three cups of tea.”

Mortenson’s next book, scheduled for release in December, is Stones into Schools, which details his projects in Afghanistan.

Greg Mortenson didn’t get his first major donation from the 500-plus letters he sent to celebrities. Instead, a group of Wisconsin elementary students collected 62,340 pennies, or $623.40.

These young philanthropists helped create Pennies for Peace, which is a program that, as the Web site, penniesforpeace.org says, “educates children about the world beyond their experience…they can make a positive impact on a global scale, one penny at a time.”

School groups or individuals can collect funds. Find out more at the Web site, where teachers also can download curriculum materials.

For youth readers, there’s a young adult version of Three Cups of Tea and a children’s edition called Listen to the Wind: The Story of Dr. Greg and Three Cups of Tea.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Second Tuesday Book Club will discuss Three Cups of Tea from 7:15 to 8 p.m. Sept. 8 at Schimelpfenig Library, 5024 Custer Road. Ages 18 and older can attend.
For more information, call the library 972-769-4200.

To find out more on the book and the Central Asia Institute, visit ikat.org.