It Takes a Girl to Raise a Village

This morning, author, activist, and Nobel Peace Prize candidate Greg Mortenson spoke about his journey toward his first book, Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace, One School at a Time, and how this snowballed into an ongoing, global agenda to end poverty through education.

Mortenson talked a lot about the critical need to educate girls, especially in developing nations. Global statistics show that populations where girls have access to education have lower rates of infant mortality, more sustainable population growth, and a better quality of life. And the girls teach their mothers how to read and write, and mothers, Mortenson said, are critical to shaping their sons' decisions to join a gang or militia, or use drugs.

It's interesting that Mortenson's publishers originally lobbied to run Three Cups of Tea with the subtitle "One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism, One School at a Time." They switched to Mortenson's suggested ". . . Mission to Promote Peace . . . " after the book stalled on the shelves. Next thing you know, it's a best-seller. It's encouraging to hear someone talk about improving communities through educating girls who will be the torch-bearers of peace for generations to come.

See a longer session recap in the Conference Daily newspaper, and if you're interested in getting your students involved with Mortenson's Pennies for Peace program, go to www.penniesforpeace.org.