Sunday, July 18, 2010
Building Peace One School at a Time
The NY Times has an article about Greg Mortenson of the Central Asia Institute. Bill Moyers interviewed Mr. Mortenson last January. Here's a Charlie Rose interview on July 27, 2010. This is where our best hope lies in Afghanistan and Pakistan. When you can make grown men happy with a swing set in a playground in Afghanistan, you are doing something right. Mr. Mortenson is strengthening communities and helping them flourish. The Taliban are actually dividing communities and taking the men and boys from villages for their own ends. Mr. Mortenson has been told that the Taliban have lost their Saudi funding and have resorted to crime for their fund raising. That's an interesting development. What I don't understand though is why the US government is not adopting Mr Mortenson's approach and building more schools and clinics along the same lines using villagers to build the schools so that they have a stake in the process. Please watch the videos and see for yourself what one man can do with a little bit of money where whole armies have failed.
Labels: Central Asia Institute
