Eat
ok, eating doesn't always have to be food, sometimes it can be words for me. I can devour them for hours on end and wonder later where the time went. That is what happened this time. (But don't worry, we will get to the eating food part, I bet you find in the "love" section again).
I was blessed with a book from my daughter for Christmas - "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. I am touched and encouraged by Mr. Mortenson's quest to promote peace through education and the building of schools in some of the toughest regions in the world. I am amazed at his fortitude and courage and ability to transform some of the most challenging people into supporters.
In reading the book, some of the places he described came to life for me. I could hear the sounds of the markets I picture much like the ones I experienced in Ethiopia. I could taste the chai (tea) as it was served and I could hear the sounds of women working in the fields and children chattering as the I pictured the men pushing their hand hewn tools through the dirt to plow the rows. I could experience the welcome he experienced much as I was welcomed into the small villages I was privileged to visit. I know what it is like to go bouncing over tracks that are called roads and wonder if you were going to survive. I could experience this book in ways I never could have before Ethiopia.
The stories of the love shown by these people to an outsider trying to provide an education for their children is a harsh contrast to the news reports we are hear of the religious extremest, the fighting and the war. It is a look into the harsh, daily lives of the villagers trying to survive in some of the harshest areas on earth. It encouraged me to learn more.
He talks of places and villages, he talks of meals shared with strangers who become family and the villagers of Khane, when he took a wrong turn and found himself in a strange village in the region of Karakoram. Mortenson says "...we drink three cups of tea...the first you are a stranger, the second you become a friend, and the third you join our family, and for our family we are prepared to do anything-even die."
I decided to follow his journey in pictures and I thought I would follow the chapters in his book. After seeing some of them, I know there are not enough words to describe them.
If you are so inclined, click on the links and learn a whole lot more. I poured though hundreds of pictures in trying to narrow it down to these few. Some are filled with amazing beauty like the one below. Others were of soldiers and war and the harsh realities I tend to skip over in the news because they are hard to see. Seeing them up close, the size of my computer monitor, was only harder.
At times, they made me question what we are doing as Christians, sequestered here in our safe country, thanks to the thousands that are fighting to preserve our freedom and way of life. I wondered, if we Christians band together as the Taliban and other bands of terrorists have done, how different the world would be today.
That what God calls us all to do...go out and teach, go out and spread the good news. Greg Mortenson, and others like him, are doing just that.
Chapter 1...Failure...Karakoram...
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K2 is the second-highest mountain on Earth after Mount Everest. With a peak elevation of 8,611 metres (28,251 ft)...K2 is known as the Savage Mountain due to the difficulty of ascent and the 2nd highest fatality rate among the "eight thousanders" for those who climb it. For every four people who have reached the summit, one has died trying.[4] Unlike Annapurna, the mountain with the highest fatality rate, K2 has never been climbed in winter. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K2)
Chapter 2...The Wrong Side of the River
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Chapter 3..."Progress and Perfection"
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Greg Mortenson and friends "Tell us, if there we one thing we could do for your village, what would it be?" "With all respect, Sahib, you have little to teach us in strength and toughness. And we don't envy you your restless spirits. Perhaps we are happier than you? But we would like our children to go to school. Of all the things you have, learning is the one we most desire for our children." |
Conversation between Sir Edmond Hillery and Urkien Sherpa,
from Schoolhouse in the Clouds
Chapter 4 - Self Storage
some chapters don't need pictures, sometimes the words are enough...
talking about his father... "He taught me, he taught all of us, that if you believe in yourself, you can accomplish anything."
Chapter 5 - 580 Letters, One Check
Let sorrowful longing dwell in your heart. Never give up, never lose hope.
Allah says "The broken ones are my beloved."
Crush your heart. Be broken.
-Shaikh Abu Saeed Abil Kheir, ala Nobody, Son of Nobody
"Slowly and painfully, we are seeing worldwide acceptance of the fact that the wealthier and more technologically advance countries have a responsibility to help the undeveloped 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.
Sir Edmund Hillary,
Schoolhouse in the Clouds, 1964
Chapter 5...Rawalpinid's Rooftops at Dusk
Chapter 7 - The Hard Way Home
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...
"He leaned over the side of the truck to request a stop and saw the top of the bearish assistant's close-cropped head stretching out the window, and beyond it, straight down, fifteen hundred feet to bottom of a rocky gorge...He looked up and saw they were hemmed in hard by granite walls that rose ten thousand feet on both sides of the river. ...Whenever the tires strayed too near to the edge, the assistant whistled sharply and the truck swung left." Three Cups of Tea
Chapter 8 - Beaten by the Braldu
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"We want very much a school for Korphe," Haji Ali said ... "But before it is possible to build a school, we must build a bridge." ..Yes, the big bridge, the stone one, "Twaha said. "So we can carry the school to the Korphe village." Three Cups of Tea |
Chapter 9 - The People Have Spoken
"Waiting was a much a part of their makeup as breathing the thin air at ten thousand feet. They waited half of each year, in rooms choked with smoke from yak dung fires, for the weather to become hospitable enough for the to return outdoors. ... Patience was their greatest skill." Three Cups of Tea
Chapter 10 - Building Bridges
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"In Ladakh I have learned that there is more that one path into the future and I have the privilege to witness another, more saner, way of life - a pattern of existence based on the coevolution between human beings and the earth". .. "I have seen", she writes, "that community and close relationship with the land can enrich human life beyond all comparison with material wealth or technological sophistication. I have learned that another way is possible." Ancient Futures, Helena Norberg-Hodge Chapter 11 - Six Days There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled. There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled. You feel it, don't you? Rumi Chapter 12 - Haji Ali's Lesson  "Haji Ali spoke. ‘If you want to thrive in Baltistan, you must respect our ways," Haji Ali said, blowing on his bowl. The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family, and for our family, we are prepared to do anything, even die," he said, laying his hand warmly on Mortenson's own. "Doctor Greg, you must take time to share three cups of tea. We may be uneducated but we are not stupid. We have lived and survived here for a long time." Chapter 13 – A Smile Should be More than a Memory Locations: Khybrr Bazar,  “It is best if I don’t tell you too much,” Khan shouted over the gunfire. “Let’s just say we considered other…contingencies. There was a dipute and we might have had a big big problem. But now everythings is settled by jirga and we’re throwing a party. A party before we take you back to … Mortenswons still didn’t believe him but the first hadful of rupes helped to convice him his ordeal was finally over. The guard with the bullet-creased forehead stumbled toward him, his grinning face lit by flames…In his had he waved a wad of pink hundred rupee nots … Mortenson, speechless, turned to Khan for an explanation, “For your schools!” he shouted …”So, Inshallah, you’ll be able to build many more!” the ending to his eight days of captivity Chapter 14 – Equilibrium  “Jean Hoerni had the foresight to lead us into the twenty-first century with cutting-edge technology…But he also had the rare vision to look behind and reach out to people living as they have for centuries.” Mortenson at the funeral of his good friend Jean Hoerni, who helped found the Central Aisin Institute Chapter 15 – Mortenson in Motion Chakpo,  With They also focused on repairing the environment… And for porters who returned after each trip up the glacier with empty baskets, they created an annual recycling program …” Chapter 16 – Red Velvet Box Shomali Plain,  “I came to respect and depend on the vision of Syed Abbas,” Mortenson says, “He’s the type of religious lead I admire most. He doesn’t just lock himself up with his books. Syed Abbas believes in rolling up his sleeves and making the world a better place.” Chapter 17 – Cherry Trees in the Sand Brolmo, Gultori Valley, Deosai Plateau, Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat, Spin Boldak, Daryle Valley, Gultori  “I wish Westerners who misunderstand Muslims could have seen Sayed Abbas in action that day, … They would see that most people who practice the true teachings of Islam, even conservative mullas like Syed Abbasm believe in peace and justice, not in terror., Just as the Torah and Bible teach concern for those in distress, the Koran instructs all Muslims to make caring for widows, orphans and refugees a priority.” Mortenson after visiting a refugee camp on the outskirts of Skardu “How can you know what the people need of you don’t ask them?” Chapter 18 – Shrouded Figure Tajik,  Let nothing perturb you, nothing frighten you. All things pass. God does not change. Patience achieves everything. Mother Teresa More than ten thousand Afghans, mostly women and children, had fled north ahead of advancig Taliban troops until they’d run out of realestate at the Tajik border. On islands in the middle of the While they sickened and died, Taliban soldiers shot at them for sport, firing their rocket-propelled grenades up in great arcs until they’d come crashing down among the terrified refugees. When they tried to flee to Tajikisan, paddling logs across the river, they were shot by Russian troops guarding the border, determined not to let Afghanastan’s growing chaos spill over into their backyard. winter 2000 Chapter 19 – A Village Called In December 2000, the Saudi publication Ain-Al0Yaqueen reported that one of the four major Wahhabi proselytizing organizations, the Al Haramain Foundation, had built “1,100 mosques, schools and Islamic centers” in …  The madrassa system targeted the impoverished students the public system failed. By offering free room and board and building schools in areas where none existed, madrassas provided millions of …By 2001, a World Bank study estimated that at least twenty thousand madrassas were teaching as many as 2 million of …These madrassa students were the “rootless and restless, the job-less and the economically deprived with little self-knowledge, “Rashid concludes. “They admired war because it was the only occupation they could possibly adapt to. …” I just have to ask, How different would the world be today if Christians had banded together had gone in with such force? Are we going to let the same thing keep happening? Chapter 20 – Tea with the Taliban  “What is the difference between them becoming a productive local citizen or a terrorist? I think the key is eduction.” Greg Mortenson Chapter 21 – Rumsfeld’s Shoes  “I’m no military expert …And these figures might not be exactly right. But as best I can tell, we’ve launched 114 Tomahawk cruise missles into Afghanisan so far. Now take the cost of one of those missles tipped with a Raytheon guidance system, which I think is about $84,000. For that much money, you could build dozens of schools that could provide tens of thousands of students with a balanced education over the course of a generation. Which do you think will make us more secure?” Chapter 22 – The Enemy is Ignorance  “If we try to resolve terrorism with military might and nothing else…the we will be no safer than we were before 9/11. If we truly want a legacy of peace for our children, we need to understand that his is a war that will ultimately be won with books, not bombs” Greg Mortenson, Parade Magazine Chapter 23 – Stones Into Schools Faizad, Baharak, Wakhan,  “We fought with Americans, here in these mountains, against Russians. An though we heard many promises, they never returned to help us when the dying was done. Look here, at these hills …There has been far too much dying in these hills …Every rock, every boulder that you see before you is one of my mujahadeen, shahids, martyrs, who sacrificed their lives fighting the Russians and the Taliban. Now we must make their sacrifice worthwhile … We must turn these stones into schools.” Sadhar Khan Pray for the missions of PCUSA and their work in Pakistan. Like Greg Mortenson's many are related to education and development. To learn more, click on the link below. It will take you to the PCUSA website search for Pakistan where you can read more. I know the list is long, choose one or two, praying together we can make a difference |
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