“Here we drink three cups of tea to do business: the first you are a stranger, the second you become a friend, and the third you join our family, and for our family we are prepared to do anything – even die.”

- Haji Ali, Korphe village chief, Karakoram Mountains, Pakistan.

In 1993, mountaineer and nurse Greg Mortenson attempted to climb the second highest mountain in the world – K2. Although not the tallest mountain in the world, Karakoram 2, located in the north of Pakistan, is regarded by the mountaineering community as more dangerous than it’s more famous relative Everest.

After a disastrous failed attempt to reach its peak, Greg Mortenson – cold, dehydrated and lost – accidentally stumbled into the impoverished village of Korphe in the Karakoram Mountains.

The Shia Muslim inhabitants of Korphe looked after the man they would come to know and love as Dr Greg. Mortenson stayed in the tiny village for months, resting and recuperating, and absorbing the way of life of people who gave so much of what little they had.

On one of the many days Mortenson spent exploring the village, he came across children crouched within an unroofed-four walled “school” etching their lessons with sticks on the dusty ground.  Moved by the children’s devotion to their lessons and the neglect of their education, Mortenson pledged to build a school for the children of Korphe.

Three Cups of Tea is the story of that promise and the extraordinary series of events that followed. Over the next decade, Mortenson built not just one but fifty-five schools in remote villages across the predominantly Shia Muslim north of Pakistan and Afghanistan. And as if the rise of the Taliban wasn’t enough, Mortenson deliberately targeted the building of his schools in remote villages and sought to empower girls through education.

The story of an American man helping Muslims in the “unfashionable” area of Central Asia has become a multi-million-copy US number one bestseller. Stories which testify for the humanitarian spirit and recount hair-raising adventure appeal to all and transcend any real or imaginary barriers.

But Three Cups of Tea is more than just someone recounting his life-changing experiences. It is a story about respect for others and for oneself, and about the promotion of peace through the eradication of ignorance.

Mortenson’s story demonstrates what can be achieved when one sets aside prejudice and fear, which handicaps us all, and looks at the “other” through the eye of a brother or a sister — one who cares and loves, and stops at nothing to give.

Three Cups of Tea is authored by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin, ISBN 978-0-141-03426-3). The sequel “Stones into Schools” is planned for release in March 2010.