BEGIN:VCALENDAR PRODID:-//artshound.com//NONSGML iCalcreator 2.6// VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:Calendar of artshound.com X-WR-CALDESC:In this calendar you will find information about events that y ou did save X-WR-TIMEZONE:US/Pacific BEGIN:VEVENT UID:20120210T210007CET-4845lwPaZI@artshound.com DTSTAMP:20120210T200007Z CATEGORIES:Personal CLASS:EVENT DESCRIPTION:Event Name: Three Cups of Tea with Greg Mortenson (with Special Guest Ambassador Ryan Crocker)\nEvent Url: http://www.artshound.com/event /detail/35897/Three_Cups_of_Tea_with_Greg_Mortenson_with_Special_Guest_Amb assador_Ryan_Crocker\nEvent Date Begin: 2010-02-08\nEvent Date End: 2010-0 2-08\n\nCentral Asia Institute presents Three Cups of Tea with Greg Morten son(with Special Guest Ambassador Ryan Crocker)\, Monday\, February 8\, 11 am &ndash\; 1pm\, at the Houston Intercontinental Hotel - 2222 West Loop S outh\, Houston TX\, 77027. Central Asia Institute invites everyone to join in supporting this very important fundraising luncheon.\nGreg Mortenson ( pictured) is the co-founder of nonprofit Central Asia Institute www.ikat. org\, founder of Pennies For Peace\, co-author of New York Times bestsell er Three Cups of Tea\, and author of bestseller Stones into Schools. In 2 009\, Mortenson received Pakistan's highest civil award\, Sitara-e-Pakista n (&ldquo\;Star of Pakistan&rdquo\;) for his dedicated and humanitarian ef fort to promote education and literacy in rural areas for fifteen years. S everal bi-partisan U.S. Congressional representatives nominated Mortenson for the Nobel Peace Prize in both 2008 and 2009. The award recipient is ch osen by a secret process and announced in October the following year.\nMor tenson was born in 1957\, and grew up on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro\, T anzania (1958 to 1973). His father Dempsey\, founded Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC) a hospital\, and mother\, Jerene\, founded the Int ernational School Moshi. He served in the U.S. Army in Germany (1977-1979) \, where he received the Army Commendation Medal\, and graduated from the University of South Dakota with a degree in Nursing and Chemistry in 1983. \nIn July 1992\, Mortenson's sister\, Christa\, died from a massive seizur e after a lifelong struggle with epilepsy on the eve of a trip to visit Dy sersville\, Iowa\, where the baseball movie\, 'Field of Dreams'\, was film ed in a cornfield. To honor his sister's memory\, in 1993\, Mortenson clim bed Pakistan's K2\, the world's second highest mountain in the Karakoram r ange. While recovering from the climb in a village called Korphe\, Mortens on met a group of children sitting in the dirt writing with sticks in the sand\, and made a promise to help them build a school. From that rash prom ise\, grew a remarkable humanitarian campaign\, in which Mortenson has ded icated his life to promote education\, especially for girls\, in remote re gions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.\nAs of 2009\, Mortenson has established 131 schools in rural and often volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanist an\, which provide education to over 58\,000 children\, including 44\,000 girls\, where few education opportunities existed before. His work has not been without difficulty. In 1996\, he survived an eight day armed kidnapp ing by the Taliban in Pakistan' Northwest Frontier Province tribal areas\, escaped a 2003 firefight with feuding Afghan warlords by hiding for eight hours under putrid animal hides in a truck going to a leather-tanning fac tory. He has overcome fatwehs from enraged Islamic mullahs\, endured CIA i nvestigations\, and also received threats from fellow Americans after 9/11 \, for helping Muslim children with education.\nMortenson is a living hero to rural communities of Afghanistan and Pakistan\, where he has gained th e trust of Islamic leaders\, military commanders\, government officials an d tribal chiefs from his tireless effort to champion education\, especiall y for girls. He is one of few foreigners who has worked extensively for si xteen years (over 75 months in the field) in rural villages where few fore igners go. TV newscaster\, Tom Brokaw\, calls Mortenson\, &ldquo\;one ordi nary person\, with the right combination of character and determination\, who is really changing the world&rdquo\;. Congresswoman Mary Bono (Rep &nd ash\; Cali.) says\, 'I've learned more from Greg Mortenson about the cause s of terrorism than I did during all our briefings on Capitol Hill. He is a true hero\, whose courage\, and compassion exemplify the true ideals of the American spirit.&rdquo\;\n\nThree Cups of Tea is required reading for U.S. senior military commanders\, for officers in the Norwegian War Colleg e\, Forsvarsnett\, for U.S. Special Forces deploying to Afghanistan\, Pent agon officers in counter-insurgency training\, and Canadian Defense Minist ry members. The book has been read by General David Petraeus &ndash\; CENT COM Commander\, Admiral Mike Mullen - Chairman Joint Chief of Staff\, and Admiral Eric Olson &ndash\; SOCOM Special Forces commander\, and several o ther U.S. military commanders who advocate for building relationships as a part of an overall strategic plan for peace. Mortenson has addressed the National Defense Senior Leadership Conference at the Pentagon\, visited ov er two dozen military bases\, NORAD\, and been to the Air Force\, Naval an d West Point Academies.\nWhile not overseas half the year\, Mortenson\, 52 \, lives in Montana with his wife\, Dr. Tara Bishop\, a clinical psycholog ist\, and two young children.\nAmbassador Ryan Crocker is a Career Ambass ador within the United States Foreign Service and a recipient of the Presi dential Medal of Freedom. He was the United States Ambassador to Iraq unti l 2009\; he previously served as the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan from 2004 to 2007\, to Syria from 1998 to 2001\, to Kuwait from 1994 to 1997\, and to Lebanon from 1990 to 1993. He will commence as the Dean of Texas A&M Un iversity's George Bush School of Government and Public Service in January 2010.\nFormer Secretary of State Colin Powell called Crocker 'one of our v ery best foreign service officers'\; President George W. Bush called him A merica's Lawrence of Arabia and noted that General David Petraeus had said that 'it was a great honor for me to be his military wingman.'\nAll proce eds from this event will benefit Central Asia Institute\, a 501(c)(3) non- profit organization with the mission to promote and support community-base d education\, especially for girls\, in remote regions of Pakistan and Afg hanistan.\n\nStart time: 11:00 AM - Check-In / Reception\n11:30 AM - VIP R eception\n12:00 PM - Luncheon Program\n DTSTART:20100208T000000 DTEND:20100208T000000 LOCATION: SUMMARY:Three Cups of Tea with Greg Mortenson (with Special Guest Ambassado r Ryan Crocker) TRANSP:TRANSPARENT END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR