The Central Asia Institute  -  our charity of choice

Founder Greg Mortenson is an absolute testament to the difference one dedicated individual can make, although he would be quick to disclaim any credit.  His mission is very simple: to build schools, with local resources, talent, & ownership, in the most remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.  The emphasis is on educating girls, but the moderate, secular education provided benefits the boys as well. 

For more information you can visit www.ikat.org, or read his two books, both of which are very interesting and well written.  Three Cups of Tea is the original, and Stones into Schools is the follow-up.  Both are now required reading for many of our armed forces deployed to that area.  I know I learned more about the conflicts & history of the region from reading these than from any news stories or in-depth Brian Williams reports that I've seen.  (If you go through the books' own websites to purchase them from Amazon then the CAI gets an additional 7%.) 

 If you've read this far we want to thank you for your attention.  Become a fan on facebook.com/DanceStreetBallroom and let us know what you think of these books.