Pennies for Peace
In the American monetary system, the penny is worthless!! The copper coin can’t even buy a piece of Bazooka bubble gum as it once did.
But in the poorest countries of the world: a penny can purchase a pencil, 2
pennies, an eraser; 15 coppers, a notebook; 2,000 pennies or $20, student supplies for a year; $300, an annual high school scholarship and $500, one teacher’s yearly salary.
Pennies for Peace, a mission that enables the world’s children to help their less fortunate peers, is a component of the CAI (Central Asia Institute) founded by Greg Mortenson and its main philanthropist, Jean Hoerni.
The best-selling novel, Three Cups of Tea, chronicles Mortenson’s incredible adventures in the remotest parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan while he promotes education for some of the poorest children of the world. (See previous post.)
Trying to raise money for the Korphe school, this emergency room nurse sold his possessions, worked long hours at the hospital and lived out of his car. When a group of elementary school children in River Falls, Wisconsin, donated $623.40 in pennies, others were inspired into action. Shortly before his death from leukemia, Jean Hoerni endowed CAI with a million dollars and the work began in earnest.
In 2000, 800,000 Pakistani and Afghani boys, ages 5-15, received schooling. Today, students number 7.2 million with 2 million of those being girls. Even the Taliban shut down of 500 Afghani school and 250 others in Pakistan in 2007 (mostly schools for girls), couldn’t curtail the amazing increase.
According to Mortenson, educating the village girls is especially important. When girls learn, they often teach their mothers and others in the village setting. Classes include math, English, Pakistan studies-history, Urdu, Islamic studies, and science. CAI added hygiene and nutrition plus a workbook covering local culture, tradition, and folklore.
Typically, young men recruited for Jihad, generally understood in the West as holy war on behalf of Islam, must ask their mother’s permission, but an educated woman is less likely to permit her son’s involvement in extremist’s groups, he added.
Critics contend that the initial efforts of the CAI, as described in Three Cups of Tea, would have been “far more effective if Mortenson had delegated more leadership to the Pakistani men and women whom he knew and trusted”.
True, the single-minded Mortenson was insistent about meeting with everyone himself and personally visiting every single project. Foolishly, the energetic American ventured into an Afghanistan war zone sans bodyguard.
However, looking at the CAI web site today, the necessity for community communication and involvement is clearly outlined. If Mortenson had exhibited traits of the stereotypical ‘ugly American,’ he would not be accepted and loved by the elders, tribal chiefs and military commanders — people normally hesitant to work with a westerner.
Taking extra time to ingratiate himself with the elders makes it easier for Mortenson to gain village support and guarantee the safety of teachers and buildings. “There’s a millennium old tribal tradition that the elders are in charge,” he points out, “and they are to be respected as the decision makers and arbitrators.”
How much more could be accomplished if all peoples would realize that the universal need every human being has for food, water, shelter, hope and love is what binds each of us to our neighbors around the world.
For additional information or to donate go to: http://gregmortenson.com, www.penniesforpeace.org, or www.ikat.org.
