[Oe List ...] Book recommendation

[Jack and Louise Ballard]

This movement has generated such excitement by all who hear about it.

My community choir director was so inspired by the story that she decided
that our Fall concert would be a benefit to raise enough money for a school
and the three-years operating expenses needed to get it going.  Our program
will be John Rutter's "Mass of the Children", guest conducted by one of the
country's premier choral composers, Z. Randall Stroope.  He agreed to come
from New Jersey to Maryland to ensure the success of raising the necessary
funds.  The first part of the concert will feature Stroope's own
compositions.  A couple interesting connections:  John Rutter is coming from
England this summer to direct a festival chorus in his "Mass of the
Children" for our local Maryland and Virginia choral directors association
(this had been planned for several years) and the other interesting event,
my director and friend, Marty, was vacationing last week in Florida at
Sanabel Island and by chance Greg Mortenson from Bozeman, MT was giving a
presentation there.  She was able to meet him and discuss her proposal with
him directly.  He suggested he come to visit us when he returns from
Pakistan next November 4th.  Our county schools are going to participate
with the Pennies for Peace campaign as well.  My director and friend, Marty,
mentioned that her greatest surprise was the humility and genuineness of Mr
Mortenson.

Put the concert on your calendar, November 1, 2008.

Blessings, Louise Ballardrew
  -----Original Message-----
  From: oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net]On
Behalf Of LAURELCG at aol.com
  Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2008 6:39 PM
  To: Oe at wedgeblade.net
  Subject: [Oe List ...] Book recommendation


  I received this from Karen Stoffers, my friend and local pastor of the
United Methodist Church.  I want to read this book!  Jann

  Hello my friends and family,
  I have just finished reading the most amazing book Three Cups of Tea by
Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. This is a remarkable story. When I
think of the sacrifices he made, the kindness of the Muslim people that
partnered with him to build the schools and the ongoing work, it is
overwhelming.

  This is from the back cover: In 1993 a mountaineer named Greg Mortenson
drifted into an impoverished Pakistan village in the Karakoram mountains
after a failed attempt to climb K2. Moved by the inhabitants' kindness, he
promised to return and build a school. Three Cups of Tea is the story of
that promise and its extraordinary outcome. Over the next decade Mortenson
built not just one but fifty-five schools - especially for girls - in the
forbidding terrain that gave birth to the Taliban.

  Years after that first school Mortenson met with one of the girls, the
granddaughter of the chief who welcomed Mortenson when he stumbled into
their village, hungry, cold and lost while climbing down a mountain glacier.
She was now taking advanced courses on a scholarship from the Central Asia
Institute (the foundation that provides funding for the schools and many
other projects). This is what she said:
  "And now that I am already in Skardu, I feel that anything is possible. I
don't want to be just a health worker. I want to be such a woman that I can
start a hospital and be an executive, and look over all the health problems
of all the women in the Braldu. I want to become a very famous woman of this
area..I want to be a ...'Superlady,'" she said, grinning defiantly, daring
anyone, any man, to tell her she couldn't. (Mortenson)beamed at the bold
granddaughter of Haji Ali and imagined the contented look that would have
been on the old narmadhar's face if he had lived long enough to see this
day, to see the seed they planted together bear such splendid fruit.

  If you want to read an incredible book that will stay with you, I
recommend Three Cups of Tea. If you buy it online at threecupsoftea.com, 7%
goes to a girls' education scholarship fund in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Here are some links:

  www.threecupsoftea.com
  Central Asia Institute www.ikat.org
  A children's peace initiative that raised money for schools with pennies
http://www.penniesforpeace.org/home.html

  I will sleep tonight thinking of the children of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

  Peace,
  Karen



  "Here (in Pakistan and Afghanistan), we drink three cups of tea to do
business, the first you are a stranger, the second you become a friend, and
the htird, you join our family and for our family we are preapred to do
anything - even die." - Haji Ali, Korphe Village Chief, Karakoram Mountains,
Pakistan.
  Read Three Cups of Tea , purchase online at threecupsoftea.com and 7% goes
towards scholarships for girl's educations in Pakistan and Afghanistan. When
all the children, boys and girls of Pakistan and Afghanistan can read, then
we can say MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!





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