Pella Reads Three Cups of Tea “One Book, One Community”

Pella Reads Three Cups of Tea “One Book, One Community”

Central College Cultural Affairs Office, The Pella Public Library and the Pella Welcoming Community Team have joined together to promote “ Pella Reads Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson and to support the Pennies for Peace charity. The kick off event is scheduled for Jan. 19 from 4:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Pella Public Library. During this time, community members may visit the library to learn more about the events scheduled to promote involvement, check out a copy of the book, and pick up a collection jar or a sticker for your own jar for the Pennies for Peace campaign.

Greg Mortenson’s New York Times Best Seller, Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace, One School At A Time, recounts the journey that led Mortenson from a failed 1993 attempt to climb Pakistan’s K2, the world’s second highest mountain, to successfully establish schools in some of the most remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mortenson combines his unique background with his intimate knowledge of the developing world to promote peace with books, not bombs, and successfully bring education and hope to remote communities in central Asia.

Three Cups of Tea has also been adapted and updated for young readers of all ages in the Young Readers edition, Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Journey to Change the World…One Child at a Time and the children’s book Listen to the Wind. Copies of all versions are available to check out at the library (including audio and e-book and large print) and for purchase through The Work of Our Hands and Gosselink’s Bookstore.

The Pennies for Peace campaign is a program of Central Asia Institute (CAI), founded by Greg Mortenson. CAI is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that promotes and provides community-based education and literacy programs, especially for girls, in remote mountain regions of Central Asia. Founded in 1996, CAI has built, to date, nearly 100 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which serve more than 28,000 students, 14,000 of whom are girls.

The organizing groups have worked together to bring several other events to the Pella Community to futher our understanding of the other cultures and to promote discussion of topics related to the book such as: “How do we promote peace in our community and in the world?” and “How do we practice hospitality to strangers and to one another?” The Cultural Affairs Office at Central College is sponsoring a dinner of Pakistani food on Tuesday, Feb. 1 followed by a program of sitar music sponsored by the Pella Opera House. Jerene Mortenson, mother of Greg Mortenson, will speak at the Joan Kuyper Farver auditorium in the Pella Community Center on Thursday, Feb. 17. A benefit concert by the Central College Combos under the direction of Gabriel Espinosa will be held on Friday, March 4 at Central College. The Work of our Hands and the Pella Opera House will hold a sale of Pakistani rugs to benefit Pakistani artisans on March 9 through 12 at the Pella Opera House.

For more information about the events or questions about “Pella Reads,” contact pellareads@gmail.com or follow us on Facebook at: Pella Reads “Three Cups of Tea”.