The Malibu One Book One City selection this year is Greg Mortenson's
"Three Cups of Tea"--which most of us read and loved. He spoke last week
at Pepperdine about the book, followup about some of the schools &
students, his Pennies for Peace program, education in Pakistan and
Afghanistan, etc. The most disturbing thing he said was that in the last
2 years the Taliban has destroyed 500 schools in Afghanistan & 300 in
Pakistan. (The local villagers have been very protective of the schools
they built through Mortenson's Central Asia Institute, and so far only one
has been destroyed.) The most heartening thing he said was that in 2000
there were 800,000 children in school in Pakistan & Afghanistan--mostly
boys. Now there are 7.4 million kids in school, of which 2.4 million are
girls. He is currently focusing on building schools in Pakistan, where
the female literacy rate is about 38% and the population is expected to
double in the next 27 years--it's one of the world's fastest growing
countries--and it doesn't have a national education initiative. He
frequently emphasized the importance of educating girls for the stability
of family and community.
Mortenson is one of the candidates for this year's Nobel Peace Prize---a
good choice! One person can make a difference!
Submitted by Jan Burns
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