Hip Czech
by CYNDY SLOVAK-BARTON
The movie “Charlie Wilson’s War” ended with Congressman Charlie Wilson, from Texas’ Second Congressional District, begging the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee for funds to rebuild hospitals, roads and schools in Afghanistan. The movie centers around the congressman’s unadulterated willingness to get funding for the war in Afghanistan.
At the end of the movie, Wilson notes that without the funds for rebuilding the country, the U.S. was growing a generation of terrorists who would hate the U.S.
That was in 1980.
Enter Greg Mortenson, a mountaineer who in 1993, after a failed attempt to climb K2, ended up forming the Central Asian Institute. His goal? To do what Charlie Wilson begged Congress to do – build schools in the impoverished mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Schools are still needed today in Afghanistan and Pakistan, especially for girls.
The struggles and joys of his building program in these mountainous countries is described in the book, “Three Cups of Tea.”
As the saying goes in Pakistan and Afghanistan, it takes three cups of tea. With the first, you are a stranger. With the second, you become a friend. With the third, you join the family.
So Mortenson became a caring family member of the girls of this region in his one-man peace efforts. His humanitarian efforts continue through his association, and it is worth reading this book, if for no other reason than to understand the depth of the problems that are such a part of this region.
The U.S. supplied the mujahadin “freedom fighters” in the 1980s. These fighters then became the Taliban and terrorists that continue the fight against us today.
If only the other congressmen on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee had listened to Wilson and funded the schools, roads and hospitals. Maybe then we would not be in trouble overseas now.
And Mortenson might not have had to spend his life building schools.
But we are thankful that he HAS made the effort. Mortenson’s generosity and work can make the difference that is needed in the region. His work will grow a generation of supporters and friends.
And that’s one thing we certainly need in that region of the world.
