Three cups of tea —Ralph Shaw

It seems that Greg Mortenson’s projects in the rural and forgotten areas of Pakistan are motivated by a genuine compassion for the downtrodden. However, it also seems that he is not immune from letting himself be used by the security establishment of his country

It seems almost a sacrilege to entertain doubts about a great humanitarian figure. Especially one whose charitable school projects have helped many impoverished children get a modicum of education in the remote mountain communities of Pakistan and who is the winner of the Sitara-e-Pakistan, the country’s highest civil award. However, after reading Greg Mortenson’s book, Three Cups of Tea, one feels that there is more to Greg Mortenson than meets the eye. His story has too many elements of a fairy tale, fortunate coincidences, meeting the right people out of the blue and being in the right place at the right time. It is enigmatic when so many unusual and sometimes lucrative incidents coincide in one person’s life. For example, a virtual pauper, he goes to a mountaineers’ party — a fund-raising dinner of the American Himalayan Foundation (AHF) — on invitation, and walks out with $20,000 as well as his future wife. Obviously, the gods were smiling, but one wonders why?

To begin with, there is something odd about a homeless person living out of his car and dreaming of building schools in a far-off land. Normally, a homeless person’s immediate concerns are to ameliorate the conditions of his own existence rather than grandiose schemes of helping humanity and least of all humanity that is not his own tribe, so to speak. It is not implied here that noble deeds should be the exclusive bailiwick of the rich and the influential, but still the fact is that Greg Mortenson was dealt a lousy hand in life and his dreams were incongruous with the reality of his humble existence.

Having failed to get his first school project started in Korphe village in Fall 1994, because he was naïve enough to assume that building material could be hauled across the River Braldu without first building a bridge, he lingers in that remote area for more than two months. A year later, he is fortunate enough to meet George McCown of the AHF at the same spot, who soon becomes one of his benefactors.

It seems Mr Mortenson has a propensity to end up in conflict areas. He starts his work in the northeastern part of Pakistan near the relatively peaceful Skardu valley, but moves quickly to the northwest end of Pakistan just as the Taliban start routing the former mujahedeen and gaining control of Afghanistan. Until then, he had not even completed his first school in Pakistan. The book does not give a convincing answer about what drove him to Waziristan? He is detained there for a week or so. Pakistanis would venture into Waziristan with much caution, even during peaceful times, yet this foreigner puts his life at risk and plunges himself right into the middle of chaos. Why someone would leave the relatively stable Chitral, Gilgit, Hunza, Yasin and dozens of similar valleys and most of Baltistan and offer to put schools at a place that has become a corridor for the Taliban is not satisfactorily answered in the book.

His putting up schools near the conflict zone in Kashmir and his social work projects on both the Pakistan and Afghan sides of the Wakhan Corridor, while commendable, make one leery of his choice of geographic location, especially so, because these remote areas are not just politically significant, they are also insecure and dangerous for foreigners. During the Kargil conflict, he drives up to the Skardu area and, according to his account, witnesses firsthand the logistics and the flow of Taliban fighters into the area.

His book is silent about the quality of education his schools provide. Are the schools staffed with capable teachers? Leaving habitual truants aside, what kind of student attendance do they achieve? His applauders laud his efforts as a way of countering extremism through education and books. One of his early school projects, in the Shamshatoo Afghan refugee camp, in 1996, certainly gives credence to such claims. Once again, this venue is far removed socially and culturally from Baltistan, where he had not built maybe even four schools until then. He throws considerable resources into this effort: training a 100 teachers and winnowing many from the Taliban. However, fighting terror is not high on his list of priorities. In a lecture arranged for US congressmen by one of his admirers, his response to a congressman’s question about the link between building schools and American security is: “I don’t do what I am doing to fight terror, I do it because I care about kids. Fighting terror is maybe seventh or eighth on my list….”

At the beginning of the post 9/11 Afghan War, he is firmly entrenched in Islamabad with foreign journalists and spies who had descended upon Pakistan’s capital city. One wonders whether he was advising the spies and journalists about future school projects in Afghanistan? He gets to have tea with Mullah Zaeef, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan. Was he discussing schools as the war was approaching? In fact, to assume that his attempt to enter Afghanistan, with war impending, had anything to do with social work stretches credulity to the limit.

However, when all is said and done, the honorific Greg Mortenson’s school-building work has its positive aspects and it must continue. Around 131 schools to date educating 58,000 students is no mean achievement. It seems that his projects in the rural and forgotten areas of Pakistan are motivated by a genuine compassion for the downtrodden and he should be encouraged and supported in this endeavour by well-off Pakistanis just as he is helped by wealthy Americans. However, it also seems that he is not immune from letting himself be used by the security establishment of his country. The hand of God works in strange ways. In order to bring promise and hope to the disenfranchised, Greg Mortenson probably does make a deal with the devil from time to time.

Ralph Shaw is the pen name of a freelance writer, who lives and works in Pakistan. He can be reached at ralphshaw11@gmail.com