Ideas to Inspire

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I had the privilege of hearing author and humanitarian Greg Mortenson speak in San Antonio and the gist of the message was that education means hope. We’ve been talking a lot about hope recently. How audacious of us. Greg Mortenson’s book is called Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Journey to Change the World. . .One Child at a Time. This is the kind of story that will get our kids thinking globally, and thinking that change can come from us. His work has sparked many young people to change lives in big ways in their own community, one bake sale, or lemonade stand at a time.

The story starts when he attempts to climb K-2 and not only does he fail, but he is totally lost and alone, his life in danger. He happens upon a poor Balti village in northern Pakistan and the Korphe people nurse him back to health. He asks to see the local school building and find that the children have a traveling teacher and their “school” is an open area of dirt, their pencils are sticks, their paper is the dirt beneath their feet. He is so moved that he promises to build a school, even if he is now jobless because it took him so long to climb K-2. He tries to write letters to celebrities, but his first real money comes from a school of children that he talks to in America. They help by bringing in their pennies, and his first check of $648 comes from their penny drive. The school movement continues with Pennies for Peace. One penny buys one pencil. He finally gets the school built, but there is more to do in Pakistan, and if we want true peace, then education, especially education of the girls is necessary. Educated girls grow up to be educated mothers. The Taliban indoctrinates men/boys from poor undeducated communities, but ex-Taliban soldiers are ex-Taliban soldiers because their mothers spoke up and said what they were doing was not right.

The first word in the Koran is read and it’s meant for both men and women. There is an ancient proverb that says:

Educate a boy, educate an individual

Educate a girl, educate a community

Greg, his wife and their two children are trying to educate a community through the building of schools and the education of girls. His other organization is the Central Asia Institute. We as teachers have the power to educate our students. Imagine a world where education would be the catalyst for social change.