Transforming Reading Experience

I use the summer to escape. I put down all my dry, monotonous class textbooks and usually opt for something a bit juicier. I’ll be honest that usually these novels won’t be found on a best-sellers list and typically leave me with little to mull over when I’ve finished them. But this is usually what my mind craves after a year of analyzing texts and reading strictly for information.

This summer was a bit different. Before my flight home from school, I perused the USC bookstore to find something to read on the plane. Instead of being drawn to some mindless novel, I found myself looking for something with a bit more substance.

I eventually made my way to a display of books on the Middle East. I’d heard several people rave about Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin – a nonfictional story about a mountain climber who builds school in the poor Pakistani villages of the Karakoram – so I decided to give it a try. I also purchased A Thousand Splendid Suns, a book by Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner.

I don’t know where my interest in the Middle East stems from, except that it’s a part of the world the news covers so frequently yet few Americans really understand, myself included.

Mortenson’s book on the mountainous Karakoram that forms Pakistan’s northern border with Afghanistan describes the land with such regard that it completely changed my view of the Middle East as a dusty, barren land. His love of the country and its people made me want to travel there so I could see firsthand the peaks of K2 rise before me.

By the time I had finished the book, I fully believed that peace in the Middle East could be achieved if only the governments spent more time educating their people. I also had no doubt that I would make my way to Pakistan despite the potential political danger.

I read Three Cups of Tea quickly and immediately moved on to Hosseini’s book, eager to read more about the area I felt I had come to understand better through Mortenson’s eyes. Though set in a different time and region, 1960s through present day Afghanistan, A Thousand Splendid Suns also struck a chord in me.

The plight of the Afghanistan women made me realize how easy my life has been.

I once again found myself itching to see Kabul and its devastation for myself instead of relying on the flat images that appear in newspapers and on TV.

But this time, I felt a new pull toward helping these people that I did not feel while reading Mortenson’s novel. So many Afghanis are living as refugees in Pakistan and although I often hear about the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, I rarely hear about what relief we are giving to the refugees.

In the back of the book there is an appendix listing relief organization that people can become involved in if they want to help.

I immediately researched the UNHCR, the UN Relief Agency, and found that they offer internships in several countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan included, and I plan on submitting an application for this summer soon.

Though this internship would not be directly related to my intended career as a journalist, it’s an opportunity I don’t think I can pass up.

These books have helped me realize my desire to learn more about these countries and their people. They have opened my eyes and helped me feel more informed about a region that is significant to current events.