In Three Cups of Tea, Mortenson tells a beautiful story about how a small village nurses him back to health after a failed attempt at K2 - the second highest mountain in the world.
Mortenson promises to build them a school and finally manages to do so after many problems. At one stage he is taken hostage by armed rebels in Afghanistan.
Mortenson's organization - the CAI - has since gone on to built upwards of 140 schools in Central Asia.
It turns out that most what Moretnson claims varies from outright-lie to plain-old deception. A 60 Minutes investigation discovered that:
- Mortenson was not nursed back to health by the villagers, but in fact first visited the village a year or so after his problems on K2
- He was not held hostage by the Taliban. In fact, there is a photo of him with his "captors" with Mortenson holding the AK-47!
- And 140 schools? Maybe 140 buildings, because 140 schools without teachers, students or resources are not schools, but merely buildings.
Then there are the allegations of private jets, misuse of funds, and Morternson using the CAI as his own personal ATM.
Mortenson has responded to the allegations but -meh - I don't buy it.
One of the tragedies with this whole story is that Mortenson has built schools and not merely buildings, has tirelessly promoted education for girls, and has done far more for peace in the region than any drone bombing ever has.
Everyone involved in the project would like to see it not only be successful, but the first of many such schools.
So how are we going to avoid the same traps that Mortenson fell into?
Well, I think in some ways we need to keep on doing what we've always done. Be open and honest about our successes and failures.
Do you know how to build a school? I have some vague inkling about the process, but am far from an expert. I do know that whatever mistakes are made will be well documented and shared freely.
The school won't be teaching all subjects. It will focus on English and computer literacy. From the census that Meaningful Volunteer conducted we know the English literacy is terrible. Computer literacy is useful in many ways as all of us who use them everyday is aware.
We'll be keeping a careful track of students that move through the school and sharing their successes. If a Mortenson-type probe comes along we can point and say here are our students and here is what they (and we) learned.
Watch this space! Building our first school is going to be quite the adventure!
