oh soot...I just recevied the CAI magazine (US$4.40
postage paid) a few days ago.. Pretty impressed with the
contents/achievement but at the same time, thinks :they got good
money to print full coloured (about 40pp)...if they send to
4million potential donator, maybe it's worth it..
and then this morning...i saw this news..
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/15/60minutes/main20054397.shtml
Greg Mortenson is a former mountain climber, best-selling
author, humanitarian, and philanthropist. His non-profit
organization, the Central Asia Institute (CAI), is dedicated to
promoting education, especially for girls, in remote parts of
Pakistan and Afghanistan, and according to its web site, has
established more than 140 schools there.
President Obama donated $100,000 to the group from the proceeds
of his Nobel Prize. Mortenson's book, Three Cups of Tea,
has sold more than four million copies and is required reading for
U.S. servicemen bound for Afghanistan.
But last fall, we began investigating complaints from former
donors, board members, staffers, and charity watchdogs about
Mortenson and the way he is running his non-profit organization.
And we found there are serious questions about how millions of
dollars have been spent, whether Mortenson is personally
benefiting, and whether some of the most dramatic and inspiring
stories in his books are even true.
Greg Mortenson's books have made him a publishing phenomenon and
sought-after speaker on the lecture circuit, where he has attained
a cult-like status. He regularly draws crowds of several thousand
people and $30,000 per engagement.
And everywhere Mortenson goes, he brings an inspirational
message built around a story that forms the cornerstone of
Three Cups of Tea and his various ventures - how, in 1993,
he tried and failed to reach the summit of K2, the world's second
tallest mountain, to honor his dead sister, how he got lost and
separated from his party on the descent and stumbled into a tiny
village called Korphe.
Greg Mortenson (speaking on big T.V. screen): My pants were
ripped in half and I hadn't taken a bath in 84 days.
Mortenson (in T.V. interview): And I stumbled into a little
village called Korphe, where I was befriended by the people
and...
Mortenson (in another T.V. interview): They gave me everything
they had: their yak butter, their tea. They put warm blankets over
me, and they helped nurse me back to health.
Mortenson tells how he discovered 84 children in the back of the
village writing their school lessons with sticks in the dust.
Mortenson (speaking on stage): And when a young girl named
Chocho came up to me and said...
Mortenson (speaking on another stage): Can you help us build a
school? I made a rash promise that day and I said, "I promise I'll
help build a school." Little did I know it would change my life
forever.
It's a powerful and heart-warming tale that has motivated
millions of people to buy his book and contribute nearly $60
million to his charity.
Jon Krakauer: It's a beautiful story, and it's a lie.
Jon Krakauer is also a best-selling author and mountaineer, who
wrote Into Thin Air and Into The Wild. He was one
of Mortenson's earliest backers, donating $75,000 to his non-profit
organization.
But after a few years, Krakauer says he withdrew his support
over concerns that the charity was being mismanaged, and he later
learned that the Korphe tale that launched Mortenson into
prominence was simply not true.
Steve Kroft: Did he stumble into this village weak in a weakened
state?
Krakauer: Absolutely not.
Kroft: Nobody helped him out. And nursed him back to health.
Krakauer: Absolutely not. I have spoken to one of his
companions, a close friend, who hiked out from K2 with him and this
companion said Greg never heard of Korphe till a year later.
Strangely enough, Krakauer's version of events is backed up by
Greg Mortenson himself, in his earliest telling of the story. In an
article he wrote for the newsletter of The American Himalayan
Foundation after his descent from K2, Mortenson makes no mention of
his experience in Korphe, although he did write that he hoped to
build a school in another village called Khane.
