Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Education in Afghanistan and Pakistan [Paperback]

 

 

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"And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful." -- Titus 3:14

Stones into Schools is a book that will change your life: Greg Mortenson impressively demonstrates that by following your heart to do what you can to help those in need, much can be accomplished . . . far beyond your wildest dreams.

The book is beautifully written: The structure and story-telling provide a sense of observing a heroic saga about an epic battle between ignorance and knowledge.

Most importantly, this is a book that can change the world by providing an example of seeking to listen to others, understanding them at the deepest level, selflessly helping to provide what they cannot do for themselves, and trusting that those in need will eventually take care of themselves and others like them.

I hope that many young people will read this book and decide to start up activities that follow a similar path of service to those who are being ignored . . . and need a helping hand.

If you read Three Cups of Tea, you would be foolish to miss this book. The opening briefly recounts those events (to refresh your memory if you didn't read it recently, or to fill in the gaps if you have never read it all). From there, the story mostly moves to Afghanistan as Greg Mortenson and his colleagues from the Central Asia Institute (CAI) seek to keep the promise to bring a school to what may be the most difficult location in that challenged country. If providing schools in remote locations isn't enough, CAI also had to brave the ongoing war there. The story moves into its highest gear as Mr. Mortenson recounts the horrible devastation that a major earthquake (about the same power as the 1906 quake in San Francisco) brought to the mountainous regions, wiping out almost all the schools and killing many of the students and teachers.

In telling the bigger story, you'll be astounded by the ongoing deprivations that teachers, students, and the CAI staff go through to build and support the new schools. This is beyond a labor of love: It's self-sacrifice at a high level for the good of future generations.

As the organization's size and influence have increased, Mr. Mortenson's role has increasingly focused on being the public face of CAI through the books and doing fund-raising speeches. On the ground in Asia, his colleagues have developed an astonishing ability to work wonders. I was left hoping that the organization will be able to attract even more resources so that even more can be done. What a blessing will it be when a third book can be written with a title something like "Schools into Nations."

There's another major theme here: Liberating women from ignorance. When women gain more knowledge, families and communities advance. The book is filled with practical examples of that point.

The book's title alludes to the many deaths that occurred during the last 30 years of war in Afghanistan. As one of the leaders pointed to the rocky hills around him, he noted that there had been as many deaths as there were rocks. But now, the time had come to turn those rocks into schools. In many cases, explosives were actually used to turn boulders into building material for the schools. It's a powerful metaphor that you won't forget.

As the United States ups the military force in Afghanistan, it's good to remember that you can build and staff more than 20 schools in the high mountains there for the cost of one cruise missile. I hope that we get our priorities straight. I was encouraged to read about the interest that many people in the U.S. military have in supporting development of schools in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Let's hope that is what our legacy will be there.

What can you do to help Central Asia Institute to accomplish more? The book provides answers on pages 405 and 406. Don't skip over that part.

When we last saw Greg Mortenson in the early part of this century, he was, with the assistance of his NGO, the Central Asian Institute, helping local residents from primitive Pakistani villages in the upper Swat Valley build a number of schools for young children. While the details of this adventure, as found in "Three Cups of Tea", forms one of the most inspiring and gripping books I have ever read, Mortenson returns from a more recent sojourn in the adjoining land of northern Afghanistan, with an even better tale for his readers to enjoy. When I took up "Stones into Schools", the account of his school-building exploits in a region known as the Wakhan Corridor, I was curious to learn how he and his organization would expand their humanitarian efforts into the far-flung, often wild and inaccessible corners of war-torn Afghanistan. Since this part of the world was shut off to Mortenson during the horror years of the Taliban rule in the late nineties, he had to wait for a regime change in 2002 to make his move. This time, the construction efforts would be focused on setting up schools for young girls in out-of-the-way places, who were educationally-deprived and socially shunned by traditional Afghan society. This book describes the challenges Mortenson and his local contacts had in gaining access to the land of the Kirghiz people, winning their confidence and cooperation in building schools, and then training locals to operate them. The reader should have no problem envisaging the tortuous and treacherous landscape of the Parmir Knot Mortenson and his amazing agent and friend, Sarfraz, have to cross to reach these impoverished villages with a message of hope. While Mortenson devotes a lot of his attention describing the physical(earthquakes), political(corruption and crime) and economic(poverty) obstacles confronting the building of these schools, his real moment of triumph comes when the job finally gets done by locals with local materials. I recommend this book as a powerful reminder of what can get done if people are willing to set aside their petty differences in the interest of a common good.

A must-read for everyone....this book really brings home the realities of life in rural Pakistan & Afghanistan, a world most of us know very little about, and yet many of us have formed opinions about. We take for granted our opportunities for things such as education and women's rights in the "developed" world...in these countries, people (especially females) are so hungry for education, so in need of women's rights....that they overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles, to learn, to go to school, to educate their communities, to make their own lives better. It made me realize not only what good, strong, down-to-earth people live there, but also how much we should appreciate the lives we have in North America. Also, that a small amount of money to us would mean a world of difference to them, to help promote education, therefore peace, making a better world for us all. Please read this book, and help Greg Mortensen and the CAI to continue to do the awesome work they do!!

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1.0 out of 5 stars Didn't finish the book
I love knowledge, viewpoints that are at odds with mine, on every topic available, because I believe learning is fundamental to life. Read more

Published 5 months ago by Alan

5.0 out of 5 stars Stones Into Schools
After reading Three Cups of Tea I could hardly wait for Stones into School and loved that too. What a wonderful selfless person who proved that one person really can and does make... Read more

Published 14 months ago by Hilda Ellen

5.0 out of 5 stars The best non fiction you'll ever read
I recommend this book to anyone who'd like to learn a little more about the history of Afghanistan and Pakistan and what one man has helped to spearhead into one of the most... Read more

Published 17 months ago by Michelle C. Sickini

5.0 out of 5 stars `Adventure Humanitarian Work' in a region central to American Foreign Policy
The first book on Greg Mortenson's adventure humanitarian work was aptly titled `3 Cups of Tea' after an explanation of a local custom by his Mentor Haji Ali, the chief of... Read more

Published on May 10 2010 by Suhail Zubaid AHMAD

5.0 out of 5 stars informative,entertaining and a great read!
There is no bravado or ego in Greg Mortenson or the CAI organisation. The sacrifices and time associated with the mission to build schools and educate people who live in a land... Read more

Published on May 3 2010 by LisaJ

5.0 out of 5 stars Stones into Schools
Currently reading this book as part of a Book Study group. Our group is thoroughly enjoying this book as it is not only easy reading but inspirational. Read more

Published on April 23 2010 by Heather I. Shepherd

5.0 out of 5 stars `We must turn these stones into schools.'
This book recounts Greg Mortenson's ongoing efforts to establish schools for girls in Afghanistan; his work in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan after a massive earthquake hit the region... Read more

Published on April 20 2010 by J. Cameron-Smith

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Inspiring
After reading Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time last year, I was super excited to read Stones into School. Read more

Published on April 7 2010 by Cheryl Howard

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved It
For me this was a wonderful heart warming and thrilling book.We hear much pessimism about efforts in Afghanistan. Read more

Published on Feb 11 2010 by Anne Shaw

5.0 out of 5 stars If you liked 3 cups of tea, you will love this one
Stones into Schools picks up where Three Cups of Tea left off. We are taken into Afghanistan and the world of Taliban, nomadic horseman and living conditions that stretch the... Read more

Published on Feb 10 2010 by I. Dobson

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