Pageturners, Schoolcraft College’s book discussion group for students, faculty, staff and the general public, selected “Three Cups of Tea” for the fall semester’s Campus Read project. The Campus Read and book discussions mark the culmination of the college’s semester-long participation Pennies for Peace collection drive. The book discussions of “Three Cups of Tea,” will be held on Thursday, November 19 at 6:30 p.m. at the Radcliff Center in Garden City, and on Monday, November 23 at 6:30 p.m. and Tuesday, November 24 at 1:30 p.m. in the Bradner Library on the main campus in Livonia. Copies of the book are available for 40% off in the Student Activities Office or Radcliff Center. The Pageturners discussion groups are free and open to the public.
     “Three Cups of Tea,” written by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, is the true story of Mortenson’s efforts to build schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 1993, after a failed attempt to make it to the summit of K2, the world’s second-highest mountain, Mortenson wandered into an impoverished Pakistan village exhausted, emaciated, disoriented and suffering from edema. The villagers took him in and nursed him back to health.    Grateful for their efforts, he promised to return someday and build them a school. “Three Cups of Tea” tells the story of his journey to make good on that promise.
     In 1996 Mortenson founded Pennies for Peace,  an international service-learning program through which organizations, predominately educational institutions, donate pennies to support community-based education and literacy programs in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Since then, Pennies for Peace has built more than 100 schools, educating more than 28,000 students, over half of whom are girls, an unusual feat in these two countries.
     Based on the principle that while most Americans don’t always see the value in a penny, which doesn’t buy much in the United States these days, in the villages where these schools are being built, a penny buys a pencil for a child; starts an education; and transforms a life, empowering that child to read, write, and learn. When those pennies are added up together, it’s amazing the impact they can now have (see the list below).
 
1 penny = a pencil
2-3 pennies = an eraser
15 pennies = one notebook
$2 or $3 = one teacher’s salary for one day
$20 = one student’s school supplies for one year
$600 = one teacher’s annual salary
$5,000 = support for existing school for one year
$50,000 = one school building and support for up to five years
     Since September, special Pennies for Peace donation containers have been placed in more than 40 different locations on both of Schoolcraft College’s campuses in Livonia and Garden City. Students, faculty, staff and the  public have been encouraged to join in the effort and donate to the campaign when they attended activities and events at Schoolcraft College. The Pennies for Peace campaign runs through November 30.
     For more information about Pageturners, “Three Cups of Tea,” or the Pennies for Peace campaign, please email erybicka@schoolcraft.edu or call 734-462-4400 ext. 5685.