Three Cups of Tea

Andrew Westhoff
GEO 105-001
Mrs. Emick
Three Cups of Tea
29 November 2010

Respect, especially respect for others, is an underlying theme in Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea. Mortenson’s story shows how respect for other cultures and peoples helps to make alliances and to gain cooperation. Respect for the geography surrounding a culture is also crucial to understanding the obstacles that the people there face. When Mortenson is in the village of Korphe, he wants to better understand the beliefs of the people because he values other cultures. Mortenson spent his early years in Tanzania; this is the first place he would have seen diverse cultures and learned to appreciate cultures different from his own. When the chief orders that a ram be slaughtered, Mortenson sees how the villagers consume the food, and he realizes that they have just given him a large sacrifice after meeting him. He can see that they value any life, even a stranger’s. As Mortenson continues to visit the region, he tries to understand the Muslim prayers and customs of haggling as he searches for building supplies. He also buys customary clothing of a Pakistani man on the advice of the guard at his hotel. He shows that he cannot be ignorant or pompous and follow his American culture in this land. He must respect the customs to be taken seriously. The land proves to be a problem for Mortenson, even when he is not on the dangerous K2. After going to great lengths to fund the school, he learns that he cannot deliver the school materials because the cable car across the river to Korphe will not support them. Mortenson now needs double the original money to also build a bridge that would be funded by the government in his own culture. When Mortenson is travelling to Korphe with the bridge cables, the delivery truck is delayed indefinitely, but the village men come and carry the cables to the construction site. Mortenson has won their respect and they are willing to help in any way possible to finish the bridge. Nature proves too powerful though when the rainy season starts and construction must be postponed. Then, the school construction is hindered by the winter months. This frustrates Mortenson, but the chief points out that one more winter is very small compared to the 600 years they have had no school. Mortenson has to learn that he cannot use his strength to beat the geography of the land, he must work around it. Mortenson sees that the education of girls is especially important in the region because there has been no emphasis on female schooling. Many Muslims interpret the Koran as opposing the education of women, and thus it is engrained into the culture all across the region. However, not all the people believe this. When Mortenson is the center of a fatwa from a Shiite cleric, the ruling from the superior clerics is in Mortenson’s favor. The clerics recognize Mortenson as an outsider with excellent intentions. Mortenson is also kidnapped and held for several days. He tells his captors of the work he’s performing. They then let him go free, but only after giving him money for the project and a feast. The kidnappers relate to Mortenson’s work in some way and are moved by his mission. The chief of Korphe also understands how important the school and educating the children is. The chief is confronted by a neighboring chief who demands payment of 12 rams, half Korphe’s entire herd, to allow construction of the school to continue. Korphe’s chief pays the bribe. He knows that the school must be built no matter what. Mortenson gains an understanding of the region throughout the book and is able to achieve great things by respecting and learning the Pakistani culture. Many of the powerful people there have seen that Mortenson is helping to fight problems such as poverty and violence by educating children. Fighting the geography is sometimes just as important because land can define a small culture by isolating it. Greg Mortenson respects the culture as well as the geography and has moved mountains with this respect.