ROTARY CONVENTION DAY #2: PEACE AND HOW TO ACHIEVE IT

At the second full day of the Rotary International Convention, the theme was peace and how to achieve it…one school at a time.

Greg Mortenson, the author of Three Cups of Tea, spoke about building schools in war-ravaged Afghanistan and Pakistan. And why educating females must be a top priority.

There is progress. Over nine million children go to school in Afghanistan and 2.9 million of those are girls. Ten years ago only 800,000 children went to schools, most of them boys.

But there is bad news, too. In the last three years, over 2,000 schools have been bombed or burned, especially schools for girls.

Why do the Taliban – “a criminal element or mafia” as Mortenson describes them – target girls?

He answers that question by quoting an African proverb: “If we educate a boy, we educate an individual; if we educate a female, we educate a community.” .

Educated girls do not want their sons to grow up to be terrorists.


"The real enemy is ignorance. The greatest fear of the Taliban is not the bullet but the pen,” he said.


“The ink of a scholar is greater than the blood of a martyr,” he said quoting another proverb.


Mortenson thanked Rotary for its work and urged Rotarians to continue to empower people around the world to create a better life for themselves.

It was an inspiring message.