January 8, 2010
Next week on the JOURNAL, we'll meet a man who knows something about change. He's the American humanitarian Greg Mortenson. His first book — THREE CUPS OF TEA — has sold over 3.5 million copies around the world, in 41 countries. It tells the remakable story about his efforts to build schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan. (
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Biography
Greg Mortenson is the co-founder of nonprofit
Central Asia Institute,
Pennies For Peace, and co-author of NEW YORK TIMES bestseller
THREE CUPS OF TEA, which has sold 3.5 million copies, been published in 41 countries, and a NEW YORK TIMES bestseller for over three years since its 2007 release, and TIME Magazine Asia Book of The Year.
Mortenson's new book, STONES INTO SCHOOLS: PROMOTING PEACE WITH BOOKS NOT BOMBS, IN AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN, has just been released.
As of 2009, Mortenson has established over 131 schools in rural and often volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which provide education to over 58,000 children, including 44,000 girls, where few education opportunities existed before.
In Pakistan, most CAI schools are in the northern areas, along the LOC (Line of Control border war zone with India) and NWFP along the Afghanistan border. In Afghanistan, CAI schools are in Badakshan, Kunar, Nuristan, Maidan Shar, Panjshir and Nangahar province, along with additional tent schools near Khost, Urozgan province and outskirts of Kabul
In 2009, Mortenson received Pakistan's highest civil award, Sitara-e-Pakistan ("Star of Pakistan") for his humanitarian effort to promote girls education in rural areas for fifteen years.
Several bi-partisan U.S. Congressional representatives have nominated Mortenson for the Nobel Peace Prize twice in both 2009 and 2010.
Mortenson was born in 1957, and grew up on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (1958 to 1973). His father Dempsey, founded Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC) www.kcmc.ac.tz a hospital, and mother, Jerene, founded the International School Moshi.
He served in the U.S. Army in Germany (1977-1979), where he received the Army Commendation Medal, and later graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1983.
Rory Stewart Rory Stewart, director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, lays out an alternate strategy for the international community in Afghanistan. (September 25, 2009)
Kavita Ramdas Kavita Ramdas, president and CEO of Global Fund for Women, the largest grant-making foundation focused exclusively on women's rights issues talks about human rights initiatives around the world. (September 25, 2009)
Shahan Mufti and Juan Cole As the world follows the violence and unrest in Pakistan, Bill Moyers speaks with historian Juan Cole and journalist Shahan Mufti about the U.S. relationship with Pakistan, how it relates to the war in Afghanistan, and why they think Pakistan is not likely to become a failed state anytime soon. (May 15, 2009)
Sarah Chayes As a new administration is set to take over in the White House, Bill Moyers checks in with author Sarah Chayes on the state of affairs in America's other war in Afghanistan. An author and journalist, Chayes has lived the last eight years in Afghanistan helping to rebuild the country. (December 19, 2008)
Andrew Bacevich Is an imperial presidency destroying what America stands for? Bill Moyers interviews history and international relations expert and former US Army Colonel Andrew J. Bacevich who identifies three major problems facing our democracy: the crises of economy, government and militarism, and calls for a redefinition of the American way of life. (August 15, 2008)
