What Real Alaskan Women Read
I am ALL DONE!
I just finished the book yesterday at the community pool...it only took me about an hour to finish a chapter...between the boys' shouting, "...LOOK at ME while I am jumping off the diving board..."
I have been eating up this book...at night-in the tent-after the boys' are asleep and sometimes waking up in the middle of the night to pick it back up with a headlamp on, so not to wake anyone else up in the tent...awe...close quarters are fun!
I love that Greg Mortenson has no other motives other than giving children in the village opportunities to learn...my admiration for him grows as I continue to get further and further into the book. I think what impresses me most is his drive and determination to provide something that had been promised by the Pakistan government, but the promise had failed to be fulfilled. I appreciate that there is no religious affiliation and encouraging the community to take ownership of the constructing, building and educating of their people...but like you Tina I wonder where the teachers come from...I know that the one teacher from the first school built was from that village, but he had outside education and had an opportunity to travel beyond his village.
I think Greg's wife and children are SAINTLY...as I can barely handle Rick gone for a week...let alone months at a time...holy moley...And the danger that Greg put himself in at times seemed careless, but then I think about how he probably wouldn't be a good husband and father if he didn't get to Pakistan and have successes...as I imagine he would just become a recluse in that basement office...shutting out the outside world and worrying about the people of Pakistan...and well what good would that be?
The relationships that Greg built and his willingness to absorb the culture without being an arrogant westerner bringing in another agenda...well other than building a school was INCREDIBLE! As the book reads, Greg seemed to be a kind and giving person only trying to do good by the Pakistan people. I do worry about what happens next, for the same reason as Tina...witnessing the western world entering small villages off the coast of Alaska makes you realize that not all that we have had is good...and who are we to come in and say that it is a need, a must, a want and a good life could not happen unless those western ideas are provided for natives to be immersed in...UGH! I guess the only difference I see between what has happened to Alaskan's and the Pakistani's is the way the school was brought in...RELIGION!!! And well organized religion brings in a whole different set of rules and influences...
What I most appreciate about this book is the GIVING back to the communities in which so many mountaineering men and women have stumbled/trampled in and out of to climb that one peak or several peaks with success from the help of native people. It seems only natural that these same mountaineering folks help in some way...well that is if the village deems they want/need help! And that is a question we could ask...and I think that Greg Mortenson made an effort to find out of if villages WANTED schools...before coming in with his funding, materials, etc to build a school!
:::Three Cups of Tea:::
"...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..."
I have been eating up this book...at night-in the tent-after the boys' are asleep and sometimes waking up in the middle of the night to pick it back up with a headlamp on, so not to wake anyone else up in the tent...awe...close quarters are fun!
I love that Greg Mortenson has no other motives other than giving children in the village opportunities to learn...my admiration for him grows as I continue to get further and further into the book. I think what impresses me most is his drive and determination to provide something that had been promised by the Pakistan government, but the promise had failed to be fulfilled. I appreciate that there is no religious affiliation and encouraging the community to take ownership of the constructing, building and educating of their people...but like you Tina I wonder where the teachers come from...I know that the one teacher from the first school built was from that village, but he had outside education and had an opportunity to travel beyond his village.
I think Greg's wife and children are SAINTLY...as I can barely handle Rick gone for a week...let alone months at a time...holy moley...And the danger that Greg put himself in at times seemed careless, but then I think about how he probably wouldn't be a good husband and father if he didn't get to Pakistan and have successes...as I imagine he would just become a recluse in that basement office...shutting out the outside world and worrying about the people of Pakistan...and well what good would that be?
The relationships that Greg built and his willingness to absorb the culture without being an arrogant westerner bringing in another agenda...well other than building a school was INCREDIBLE! As the book reads, Greg seemed to be a kind and giving person only trying to do good by the Pakistan people. I do worry about what happens next, for the same reason as Tina...witnessing the western world entering small villages off the coast of Alaska makes you realize that not all that we have had is good...and who are we to come in and say that it is a need, a must, a want and a good life could not happen unless those western ideas are provided for natives to be immersed in...UGH! I guess the only difference I see between what has happened to Alaskan's and the Pakistani's is the way the school was brought in...RELIGION!!! And well organized religion brings in a whole different set of rules and influences...
What I most appreciate about this book is the GIVING back to the communities in which so many mountaineering men and women have stumbled/trampled in and out of to climb that one peak or several peaks with success from the help of native people. It seems only natural that these same mountaineering folks help in some way...well that is if the village deems they want/need help! And that is a question we could ask...and I think that Greg Mortenson made an effort to find out of if villages WANTED schools...before coming in with his funding, materials, etc to build a school!
:::Three Cups of Tea:::
"...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..."
Comment
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Comment by Chris Hum on September 7, 2008 at 10:33am -
I also am very curious where the teachers come from, I did a bit of investigation on the website for central asia institute but did not fine much.
But as a side note I also discovered Greg Mortenson's Blog.
I too also keep wondering about his family. It would be so difficult to be away from them so much.
There does seem to be a difference that I am starting to see between the villages in Alaska and those in Pakistan. The children and people from the book seem to crave the education, and celebrate it. Perhaps because they do not have access to it. But I wonder and muse what they do with it. In the villages in Alaska, it seems at times that it is opposite. Or perhaps it has become a bad thing.. but started off differently due to the westernization of the village. How did the kids seem to get such a disliking of school? It is people, or the education, or the constant bombardment of failure or being told they are not doing as well as their counterparts in the lower 48.
There is so much that is not said or felt from the book, that it is so difficult to know and move passed the media to see the truth of the impact of the schools on the children and communities and culturally.
Well, I will hurry to complete the book. And by far the quote above will remain to be one of my favorites.
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