Three Cups of Tea

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time is a 2007 Greg Mortenson's memoir about purported events from life coauthored by journalist David O. Relin. The men are given equal billing as authors, though Relin debated this. In brief, the book tells the story of how a mountaineering trip gone awry was the basis for Mortenson's career as a humanitarian; a career that would center, officially, on the building of schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, with the aim of reducing poverty and increasing education, especially among young girls. Three Cups of Tea, a much-discussed story, is as well known for the various scandals that have plagued Mortenson and Relin in its wake – including Relin's suicide in 2012 – as for the book itself. Nonetheless, it won numerous awards in the first years after its publication. The title of the book is inspired by a Balti saying told to Mortenson, "The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family.”

Three Cups of Tea begins with Mortenson's attempt to climb K2, the second tallest mountain on earth. His goal, as he describes it, was to honor his deceased sister, Christa, by leaving a piece of her jewelry at its summit. A last-minute medical emergency involving a fellow climber requires his climbing team to make a sudden descent; during the descent, Mortenson, exhausted and disoriented, becomes lost. His wandering brings him, serendipitously, to the mountain village of Korphe. There, he is welcomed and cared for by the village elder, Haji Aji (who gave Mortenson the saying that inspired the title of the book).

While at the village, Mortenson witnesses the extreme poverty of its inhabitants. He sees children drawing in the mud with sticks and thinks they must be trying to study, even in the absence of teachers. Overwhelmed by gratitude towards his hosts, Mortenson promises he will return to build them a proper school. He returns to the U.S., where he works as a nurse. Sad that he was unable to leave a memorial to his sister on K2, he decides a better tribute to her memory would be to pursue his plan to build a school in Korphe.



Mortenson has trouble at first raising money for his humanitarian venture. However, eventually, word of Mortenson's project reaches Jean Hoerni, Silicon Valley darling and a fellow climber, who donates $12,000 to his cause. Mortenson sells all of his belongings, returning finally to Pakistan. When he arrives in Korphe, he finds unexpected, unplanned-for obstacles: before he can build a school, the locals tell him, he has to build a bridge over the gorge that divides the town from neighboring areas. Unable to build the school, he is forced to return to America to revise his plan. Once he is back, he learns that, in the meantime, he has lost both his job and his girlfriend.

Mortenson secures further funds from Hoerni, allowing him to take the next step toward his goal. He returns yet again to Pakistan, and spends time bonding with the people of Korphe – he even goes on a hunting expedition with them. He builds the desired bridge at last. Once returned to California, Mortenson feels that he has done a good deed, if not the one he originally set out to accomplish. He is invited to a dinner in honor of the first man to climb Mount Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary, and the dinner turns out to be one of the most important nights of his life: first, he is informed by Hoerni and his friend George McCown, that they will pay Mortenson to return to Korphe to finish the school project; second, he meets Tara Bishop, whom he ends up marrying just a few days later.

Finally finishing construction of the Korphe school, becoming closer to Haji and the Balti people in the process, Mortenson resolves to build more schools in the area. After traveling to Waziristan, he is kidnapped, without ever being told why. He is released afterward, again without any details being communicated to him, he returns home not long before Tara goes into labor. Jean Hoerni dies, leaving a million dollars to the Central Asian Institute. He also names Mortenson the new director. Mortenson uses the position to continue with his plan for building more schools. He funds several other humanitarian projects as well, even in the face of fatwas from powerful religious figures in Pakistan who do not appreciate his meddling in their country and culture.



Mortenson tries to raise awareness of refugee issues in America and fails. Beginning to have trouble with the CAI's board of directors, he becomes depressed. His mood is lightened somewhat with the birth of his son. Mortenson's interventions in Pakistan continue, and as a result, he becomes increasingly aware of political tensions within the country, and between Pakistan and Afghanistan. On September 11, 2001, he is in Pakistan opening a new school as the attacks take place. Mortenson tries to explain to reporters that poverty is the basis of the terrorism America has just witnessed, but his words are ignored. It is easier to simply demonize Muslims.

Things worsen for Mortenson. Another fatwa is declared against him; he is also threatened at home in the U.S. by Americans who misunderstand his humanitarian efforts as aiding the enemy. He is even placed under interrogation by the CIA. Nevertheless, slowly he makes inroads among important political figures, and his message starts to spread. A large story about Mortenson comes out in Parade magazine, prompting a sudden uptick in donations to the CAI. In the end, Mortenson, now something of a national sensation, decides to continue his work, pressing into Afghanistan as well.

Several people have challenged the factuality of the events described in Three Cups of Tea, including, notably, 60 Minutes and one of Mortenson’s former financial backers, Jon Krakauer, who penned the famously scathing Three Cups of Deceit – How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way. Montana Democratic representatives Jean Price and Michele Reinhart filed a class action lawsuit against Mortenson in May 2011, seeking to hold all of the proceeds from his book in a trust for humanitarian causes. In April 2012, the lawsuit was dismissed. An appeal of the dismissal was rejected in October 2013.