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Mortenson near his home in Bozeman, No , July 2008 Bachcheh Left photograph by dan winters Behind

Greg Mortenson’s school-building program in dates back to 1993, when the banged-up survivor made a pledge to the Himalayan villagers who took him in. Fifteen years and later, it’s both a powerful example of a great idea and a chaotic, ongoing adventure. KEVIN FEDARKO hits the rough road with Mortenson in , where they roll with warlords and deliver {teacher pay the old-fashioned way: with a $100,000 bag of cash}. 1208_Mortenson_final.qxp_1014:Feature 10/23/08 1:22 PM Page 74

THE HABIB BANK OCCUPIES a four-story can mutters. “You know, we should probably building in Kabul’s Shahr-i-Nau district, a call and find out—” neighborhood that features an outdoor photo “—what Wakil is up to?” says the Pakistani, exhibit of Afghan land-mine amputees, an In - completing the thought. He punches the cell- ternet café that was blown up by a suicide phone code for Wakil Karimi, their Pashtun ac - bomber in 2005, and a man holding a trained complice in this morning’s operation. Three monkey on a chain. At five minutes to nine on a seconds into Wakil’s woefully unacceptable re - TSaturday morning, the monkey’s eyes dart to - port, the Pakistani’s face darkens with anger. ward the bank’s entrance as two men in combat “What the hell are you doing sitting down vests come charging out through the doors. drinking chai?! This is not an episode from The figure in front, a hulking six-foot- Three Cups of Tea ! Get your butt outside the four American, is wearing a pair of size-15 airport—now!” Merrell clogs and a shalwar kameez, the pa - As the taxi weaves through donkey carts and jama-style robes favored by men throughout battered minivans, the shouting continues. Afghanistan. Behind him is a former Pak - “Have our tickets ready! Have a porter stand - istani commando whose right hand is frozen ing by! Tell security to let us through!” into a kind of claw. In it, he clutches a plastic The men brace as the cab screeches to a bag just given to him by the lady who brings stop at the airport entrance, and there stands fresh-baked bread to the bank’s employees poor Wakil, with his Areeba flip unit glued to every morning. The bag now holds 23 bricks his ear, enduring the novel misery of finding of cash totaling $100,000. The cash is dust - himself excoriated in person and over the ed with flour, and both men are running as if phone at the same time. the devil himself were after them. “You know, some people say that we’re just They jump into a cab that plunges into the totally winging things over here in this part of morning traffic, speeding past tea shops and the world, but that’s not really fair,” the Amer - Indian video stores and into the Wazir Akbar ican remarks, somewhat defensively, as he Khan roundabout, where the driver unwisely shuffles toward the gate, where it is now being opts for a shortcut that involves entering the announced that the flight has been delayed thing in the wrong direction. for three hours. Oops. Before completing the arc of an argument A policeman blocks the vehicle and slams his whose abundant illogic has escaped his notice, fists on the hood. Then he reaches through the he pats his pockets to make sure he hasn’t open window and starts shaking the driver by dropped a stray wad of cash that will cover the his lapels while unleashing a blast of enraged annual salaries of 20 schoolteachers working in Dari, the language spoken throughout half of the of northern Afghanistan. Afghanistan. From the backseat, the retired “It’s true, of course, that back in the early commando calmly vise-grips the driver’s neck days we may have been flying by the seat of and barks a one-word command: “ Burro!” our pants a bit. But, believe me, we are much Rough translation: “Floor it.” more organized now.” The driver rams the accelerator, leaving the Mortenson greeting cop kicking the side of the cab as it resumes its THE PROVENANCE OF THAT hundred thou - students in the race toward Kabul International Airport, where sand dollars, which was assembled through region the men’s plane was scheduled to start board - small and large donations from every corner of of ing at 8:40 A.M. the U.S., was as diverse as America itself. It had “Hey, what time is it?” the American won - come from Muslims and Hindus, Christians ders as he stuffs cash into his vest. and Jews, Buddhists and atheists, and maybe “Nine-o-five,” the Pakistani grunts. “Too even a Wiccan or two. Some of it was sent by a bad we cannot ring up Mr. Siddiqqi.” Baptist youth group in Alabama; some came Mr. Siddiqqi would be a big help right now. fromaNorthCarolinachapterofFutureTeach - He ran the control tower at Kabul’s airport ers of America ; and some was a gift from vet - for 38 years—a period spanning the Soviet er ans of the 82nd Airborne Division. From ters of the (CAI), an op - her 23rd birthday. After exhausting himself by with no teacher in sight. One of them was a girl schools—literally one cent at a time, beginning occupation of Afghanistan, from 1979 to Massachusetts, a 12-year-old girl named eration created to honor a promise made in taking part in the successful high-altitude res - named Chocho, who made Mortenson promise with a school in Wisconsin where the kids filled 1989; the anarchic civil war that followed; Gabby contributed $50 that she’d earned 1993. That was the year —the cue of another climber, he was forced to turn tocomebacksomedayandbuildthemaschool. two 40-gallon trash cans with 62,345 pennies. and the country’s seven-year imprisonment babysitting. Lorraine, a single mother from fellow now catching his breath inside the con - back 2,000 feet shy of the . Then, while The fulfillment of that pledge—the subse - When the book was published, in March under the Taliban, from 1996 until the U.S.- Simi Valley, California, sent in a box of pennies verted shipping container that serves as our trekking down the 39-mile , quent chain of events through which a lost 2006, it debuted at number 14 on The New led invasion following September 11. Back worth $7.47, followed later by a check for $25. departure lounge inside the Kabul airport— Mortenson got separated from his Balti porter mountaineer found his life’s calling by pro - York Times ’ nonfiction bestseller list before then, anyone who had taken the trouble to From San Diego, an 82-year-old woman named attempted to climb K2, the world’s second- and wound up staggering into a village called moting literacy in the impoverished Muslim dropping off. Then, starting last year, sales pay a visit to the tower and have a cup of tea Hannah, retired and living on a shoestring, highest . He did so while wearing a , a place so destitute that roughly one in villages of the eastern —is a story began to explode. Driven by a surge of inter - with Siddiqqi needed only to give him a ring wrote to say she wanted to help with what little shalwar kameez, taking on this killer peak every three children perished before the age of that, by now, a lot of people have heard. Two est from women’s book clubs and churches, if they were running late, and he’d hold their she could spare. She gave $100. with a group of 12 underequipped climbers one. It was in Korphe that he was offered shel - years ago, with the help of co-author David the book climbed to the top of the paperback plane. Unfortunately, Siddiqqi’s recent re - Regardless of where the money originated, who were known as the Rejects. ter, food, tea, and a bed. And it was in Korphe, Oliver Relin, Mortenson, now 50, laid out his list, where at press time it had spent more tirement has now created the possibility of all of it had been funneled through a three- Mortenson had launched the climb in mem - one afternoon during his recuperation, that he unusual saga in Three Cups of Tea, a book that than 27 weeks at number one. As of October, something unthinkable. story office building at the east end of Main ory of his younger sister Christa, who’d suf - came across 82 children sitting outside writing tells the tale of how he sold his car and his Three Cups of Tea had sold 2.1 million copies, “We’re about to miss this plane,” the Ameri - Street in Bozeman, Montana, the headquar - fered from epilepsy and had died of a seizure on their school lessons with sticks in the dirt— climbing gear and started raising money for been printed in 19 languages, and spawned a

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sequel—due out next fall—that will complete Through it all, Mortenson has struck a South Korea, , and Rwanda. the dirtbag-to-rock-star chronicle of a chord with groups that don’t usually see eye Mortenson’s visibility, however, has put him mountaineer who, by all reasonable expecta - to eye. In addition to speaking before Rotary in the crosshairs of extremists and crackpots. tions, could easily still be living out of the clubs, in public libraries, and at college com - In Pakistan, two religious clerics issued fatwas back of his car. mencements, he has appeared at Islamic (since rescinded) calling for his expulsion. In In the 15 years since his Korphe experience, schools in Chicago, at a synagogue in New August 1996, he was kidnapped in Waziristan Mortenson has made 37 trips to Pakistan and York City, and before a group of lesbian ac - and held for eight days before being released. Afghanistan, logging nearly 250,000 air miles tivists in Marin County. Earlier this year, a CAI school in Afghanistan a year while organizing the construction of 78 And then there’s the U.S. military, currently was attacked by the Taliban. schools that currently serve some 28,000 stu - in its seventh year of deployment in Af- There have been some nasty reactions at dents. He’s also put together graduate-schol - ghanistan, where coalition casualties started home, too. “In the U.S., I get quite a bit of hate arship and teacher-training programs, paid to exceeding those suffered in Iraq last May. In mail and criticism,” Mortenson says. “People build women’s vocational centers, and under - November, Mortenson—who served as an have attacked me for working with Muslims, written water-purification projects. He has Army medic from 1975 to 1977—was asked to for acting like a colonialist, for being a traitor probably spent more time, traveled more sharehisviewsaboutPakistanandAfghanistan to America. But we continue to operate, be - miles, and come to know cause we have fierce local support. The com - the region more deeply munities we work in will do anything for than any diplomat, sol - education, and as long as they want schools, dier, academic, or aid our mission is to provide them.” worker in America. “Greg is my hero,” says THREE HOURS AFTER RUSHING to the airport, newsman , we finally board a 12-seat twin-turboprop who donated $100 in 1994, Beechcraft and lift off over the brown expanse in response to a hand- of Kabul. The plane is operated by PACTEC, a typed letter from Morten - nonprofit that shuttles humanitarian workers son that hundreds of other around Afghanistan. PACTEC offers no bever - prominent recipients ig - age service, but the seat pocket does contain a nored.“This gentle but de - laminated guide to avoiding land mines, which termined young man is still kill or maim around 65 Afghan civilians winning hearts and minds every month. As the Beechcraft arrows toward one school at a time, in a Badakhshan, Afghanistan’s northeasternmost part of the world where we province, we gaze east toward the 19,000-foot rely too much on the mili - peaks guarding the approaches to the Pakistani tary response and not region of Baltistan, where Mortenson forged the enough on the humanitari - ideas that define his mission. an and social approach.” Ever since Islam was brought into the Baltistan area by itinerant Muslim sheiks in the Mortenson’s school-building message strikes a chord with 15th century, the privilege of learning to read everyone from charitable groups to the U.S. military. Three and write has, in many mountain communi - ties, been reserved for males. Like most ex - Cups of Tea is now recommended reading for officers in perts, Mortenson is convinced that educating counterterrorism courses in the Army, Navy, and Marines. girls is the most important step in reducing in - fant mortality and bringing down birth rates— which in turn helps fight the ignorance and poverty that often nurture religious or ethnic As Three Cups of Tea ’s success continues, the with General David Petraeus, whose focus on intolerance. Thus every new school the CAI Mortenson juggernaut shows no sign of letting building relationships with local communities funds must provide access to girls. up. In the past year, he’s made roughly 150 ap - dovetails with the CAI’s approach. Sometime “Once you educate the boys, they tend to pearances in more than 100 U.S. cities, sharing this winter, Mortenson is slated to do the same leave the villages and search for work,” says his story with crowds of up to 20,000—a big with the office of Admiral Mike Mullen, chair - Mortenson, who spent most of his boyhood in change for a man whose slide shows, until just a man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He has lectured East Africa, where his parents—Lutherans few years ago, drew only half a dozen bored at Annapolis, West Point, and the Air Force from Minnesota—built ’s first teach - shoppers at REI and Patagonia stores. The Academy. Three Cups of Tea is now recom - ing hospital, in the shadow of Kilimanjaro. CAI’s gross intake has grown from $480,000 in mended reading for officers enrolled in gradu - “But the girls stay home, become leaders in 2002 to nearly $4 million last year. These days, ate-level counterterrorism courses in the the community, and pass on what they’ve tickets to Mortenson’s presentations sell out Army, Navy, and Marines. learned. If you really want to improve quality within hours, hosts often have to book a second Mortenson is also widely respected over - of life, the answer is to empower the women venue, and most speaking requests must be seas—rare for an American these days. He has by educating the girls.” made a year in advance. given presentations in several countries, in - The importance of girls’ education is widely “The irony is that we’re actually trying to cluding Sweden, Tanzania, and the United recognized around the world . CAI’s special slow down our growth,” says Mortenson, who Arab Emirates. Pennies for Peace, an offshoot twist is the amount of time and effort Morten - has the weary look of a bear in serious need of of the original Wisconsin piggy-bank drive, son spends selling the concept on the ground. hibernation.“Yet the harder we try, the faster it now has programs running in Europe, Asia, and His guiding philosophy is summed up in his seems to grow.” South America. Last year, it was picked up in book’s title, which refers to a saying he heard in

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—the strength of will it demands, the maverick impulses it can nurture and shape—that first in - spired Mortenson’s radically un - orthodox approach to building schools. Pointing through the plane’s window at the distant summit of , at 24,581 feet the highest peak in Afghanistan, he explains the overall blueprint. “If you look at a map,” he says, “you’ll see that our schools are all in isolated pockets that have no educa - tional infrastructure due to remote - ness, poverty, religious extremism, or war. These are the areas where no - body else goes—and, basically, what we do is start at the end of the road and work our way back. We don’t want to build thousands of schools. We just want to put a few into the hardest places of all, then hope that the government or other NGOs will start moving toward us.” The strategy has worked well in Pakistan, where Mortenson’s staff spent the late nineties targeting the farthest-flung villages in the most re - mote valleys. In 1999, at the request of the Pakistani military, they launched projects in the Gultori region, where the armies of India and Pakistan were locked in fierce fighting along the Line “You listen with humility”: of Control, which defines ’s CAI’s approach to school- contested border. The schools they building is shaped by put in, which were tucked into the Mortenson’s extensive mouths of caves, featured sloped travels in Pakistan and Afghanistan. roofs that can deflect rockslides trig - gered by artillery shells. That fall, they also started working with contacts in Korphe. “The first cup of tea you share with us, The first crop of CAI-educated women are launching you are a stranger,” it goes. “The second cup, you are a friend. But with the third cup, you be - careers in Pakistan and Afghanistan. To Mortenson, come family—and for our families we are will - they’re making first ascents that are “far more dramatic ing to do anything, even die.” than those of the Western climbers who came into these “In order to get things done, it’s necessary to listen with humility to what others are asking mountains 30 or 40 years ago.” for and what they have to say,” says Mortenson. “The solution to every problem over here be - gins with drinking tea.” will be the first female physician to emerge Afghanistan—an effort spearheaded by the This might sound simplistic, but the results from an area of the country that harbors 1.2 broken-handed man now sitting in the back of are impossible to dispute. Down inside the million people. the Beechcraft, whom Mortenson likes to call narrow mountain valleys that lie veined far “You could say that those women down “our Indiana Jones.” below the Beechcraft—where more than 400 there are making first ascents far more dramat - This is Sarfraz Khan, 53, who was shot villages are now clamoring for a school—the ic than those of the Western climbers who through the wrist during a gun battle with the first crop of CAI-educated women are prepar - came into these mountains 30 or 40 years ago,” Indian army in 1974. After his military dis - ing to launch their careers. Jahan Ali, 21, the says Mortenson, who next March will receive charge, Sarfraz started plying the snow- granddaughter of the headman of Korphe, the Sitara-e-Pakistan, Pakistan’s highest civil - covered passes that connect his home in Pak - graduated in 2002 and is studying develop - ian award, which is almost never given to a for - istan’sChapursanValleytotheWakhanCorri - mental planning in . She plans to go eigner. “They will have a far greater impact dor, a narrow finger of Afghanistan, 200 miles into politics. Shakila Khan, 21, graduated with than the statistics buried inside the pages of long, that thrusts between Tajikistan and the first class in School and is finishing The American Alpine Journal. ” Pakistan all the way to China . Three or four her third year of medical school in Lahore. She True enough. And yet it was the sport of times a year, Sarfraz would haul flour, sugar,

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Mortenson, there are always surprises, and the “Our Indiana Jones”: first arrives as our plane taxis to a stop and the Sarfraz Khan, copilot turns to face the passengers. Mortenson’s right-hand man “Welcome to Badakhshan,” he announces. “Whichever one of you guys has got the armed escort, they’re headed this way.”

EVEN BY THE EXTREME standards of Afghanistan—a country where a majority of the population has never known peace and the average life expectancy is 43 years—the province of Badakhshan , which contains the Corridor, is a rough place. One telling measure is the number of women who die during pregnancy. In the U.S., the rate is 11 per 100,000. In Afghanistan, it soars to 1,800, and the situation in Badakhshan is as bad as anywhere in the country. It’s also the only part of Afghanistan that was never conquered by the Taliban. Credit for that goes to some exceptionally tough local mujahedeen commanders, one of whom has just surrounded our plane with a dozen heav - ily armed men and several pickup trucks. Wohid Khan, 52, has dense black eyebrows and a precisely razored beard that’s just start - ing to turn gray. He started fighting the Rus - sians at age 22; these days he’s in charge of border security in the eastern part of the province. Khan and 250 men patrol 840 miles Mortenson metSarfrazin1999and,thenextyear,dispatched of rugged terrain where the Wakhan shares a him to survey the Wakhan’s infrastructure. Sarfraz found border with Pakistan, Tajikistan, and China. that after nearly three decades of war, there was barely a This is one of the most heavily trafficked heroin routes in the world, as well as a popular skilled mason or carpenter left in the corridor. thoroughfare for gunrunners. Like many mujahedeen whose schooling was cut short by war, Khan sees education as and tea into the Wakhan—an area almost is to land in the provincial capital of Faizabad, the key to reversing Afghanistan’s devasta - completely cut off from the outside world— then head east until we reach the end of the tion—which is why he has given his full sup - and return with yaks and goats. The work road, at the village of Sarhad. port to Mortenson’s projects. The father of helped create a unique skill set: He knew the That’s the scheduled itinerary, anyway. With several daughters, he’s continued on page 139 terrain; he knew the people along the border; and he had a superb grasp of the local lan - guages—all seven of them. Give a Little Mortenson met Sarfraz in 1999 and, the next Chari ties that provide some bang for your buck year, dispatched him to survey the Wakhan’s infrastructure. Sarfraz found that after nearly Asia education and sponsors cultural-heritage three decades of war, there was barely a skilled CENTRAL ASIA INSTITUTE programs in mountain communities. It runs mason or carpenter left in the corridor. His so - ikat.org similar efforts in North America and Asia. lution was to import teams of Pakistani crafts - Mortenson’s outfit, the CAI, builds schools men. With permission from the border police, and pays for a variety of educational pro - North America he started escorting groups of 20 workers at a grams in Afghanistan and Pakistan. BUILDING WITH BOOKS time over the passes without visas or pass - buildingwithbooks.org BwB runs 130 after-school programs in ports. Every few weeks, he would return to Africa FUND-A-FIELD poverty-challenged U.S. school districts. monitor progress and pay the men with money fundafield.com he carried in saddlebags. He set such a relent - Run by 25 teenagers from California , this Global less pace that at the end of one trip, upon nonprofit builds soccer fields in countries MOUNTAIN TO MOUNTAIN reaching the far side of the pass, his horse fell to like South Africa, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone. mountain2mountain.com the ground and died. This two-year-old Colorado-based organ - By the summer of 2008, the CAI had built South America ization raises money for partner charities nine Wakhan schools, with five more in the THE MOUNTAIN INSTITUTE that fund mountain-community educa - works. Our current visit will include a typical mountain.org tion projects in four countries. mix of ribbon-cutting ceremonies, bill paying, TMI’s South America program provides —ALICIA CARR and meetings to discuss new projects. The plan

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MORTENSON continued from page 80 we reach Baharak, the valley forks in three di - especially passionate about building schools rections and we head west toward Ishkoshem, for girls. As a gesture of respect, Khan will a town of 20,000 families. Here, on the morn - provide Mortenson with a high-speed escort ing of our third day out, we come to the jewel of in three Ford Ranger pickups, rigs that carry the CAI’s Wakhan program: an unfinished shoulder-held rocket launchers and a .50- foundation about the size of a football field, caliber machine gun mounted to a tripod. filled with dirt, stones, and loose sand, future We roar out of Faizabad, with three sol - home of the Ishkoshem Girls’ High School. diers perched in the back of each truck, The completed structure will be two stories their Kalashnikovs between their knees. As tall and will host 1,200 female students. Cost - we barrel along on unpaved roads, Morten - ing more than $70,000, it will be the largest son explains that this is not his standard school ever built in this region, and it will have mode of travel. one of the most magnificent settings for any “When Sarfraz and I come into the Wakhan, school anywhere. To the north loom the Pamir we’re usually in a beat-up jeep or a minivan Mountains, painted with the shadows of high that we’ve hired, and we’re constantly switch - clouds, racing across the brown slopes in the ing drivers to avoid getting ambushed or kid - lemon-yellow light. To the south are the napped,” he says. Sarfraz also switches up sharper ridgelines and faces of the Hindu languages while concocting elaborate lies Kush, armored in ice even now, in late July. about who they are and where they’re going. More than 100 men are clustered around the “When I’m worried, there is no stopping, no school’s foundation; they’ve come from as far eating, no drinking,” Sarfraz says. “Greg’s life is away as Kabul to see the cornerstone laid. Off very important to me.” to the side is a group of about 40 girls, several of Traveling with Wohid Khan is different: whom are clad in head-to-toe burkas. They are Since he’s the local strongman, the only thing all waiting to hear Mortenson. After thanking you have to worry about is hanging on. Khan’s everyone for attending, he offers a short drivers are under orders to push their rigs to the speech, which is translated for the crowd. maximum speeds that the shattered roads “This school is your school,” he says. “It is allow—40 to 50 miles per hour. Moving fast is not a gift of the American government but of standard procedure, because the border-secu - small people like yourselves, across the United rity force handles all sorts of problems over a States, all of whom gave small donations so huge area. Two weeks ago, a car transporting that this school, and others like it, can be built two teachers, both of their wives, and four chil - in remote areas where education is needed.” dren to a new CAI school in the village of Buz - He glances briefly over at Khan, who listens zai Gumbad accidentally shot off the road into carefully. “A wise man in this area once told me the Amu Darya River. The driver and one of the that these mountains have seen far too much families were drowned. The other family spent killing, and that each rock you see represents a the night balanced on the roof of the car. Khan mujahedeen who died fighting either the Rus - and his team raced to them the next morning sians or the Taliban. But now that the fighting and pulled the survivors to safety. is finished, it is time to build a new era of peace. Khan can be quite ruthless about keeping And the first step is to take up these stones and these roads open, which is crucial for the flow start turning them into schools.” of food supplies to the region. This becomes The applause from Khan and his soldiers is evident one afternoon when we encounter a especially fierce. truck that has obstructed traffic by stopping in the middle of the throughway. The command - THERE ARE MANY unorthodox aspects to er gets out and walks up to a man who’s work - Mortenson’s operation, but perhaps the oddest ing on a broken rear wheel. is his preference for hiring inexperienced, un - “Driver or mechanic?” he asks. derqualified, often uneducated locals from “Driver,” the man replies. whom he somehow extracts amazing results. Khan smashes his fist into the man’s face, Take Sarfraz, who manages CAI programs then kicks him in the stomach, twice. He gets in the Wakhan and . “Without back in the Ranger and we resume our journey. Greg, I would be nothing more than a guy “People criticize me for working with so- who trades yak butter,” he says. But Morten - called warlords,” says Mortenson, “but some - son seems convinced he got the better end of times you’re forced to choose between working the deal. “I’ve learned so much from this with the resources at hand and not accom - guy—the way he goes into the most rugged plishing anything at all. In the end, it’s all about areas, un armed and without fear, to meet with relationships, and we’re willing to collaborate military commanders, warlords, and very with almost anyone who shares our commit - shady tribal leaders,” he says. “Sarfraz is con - ment to education.” stantly moving, he’s culturally savvy, he’s For the next two days, we bash though dry smart and wily, he’s firm when he needs to be. washes and small villages, pushing deeper into Plus he’s got some humor and some charisma the most obscure corner of Afghanistan. When going for him, too. When it really comes down

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MORTENSON cept travel, drink tea, and watch them work. To gy, realized that she’d hitched her wagon to an vocational center. Wife-Boss also says that “Simple but elegant,” Mortenson later says. to it, I am a donkey, but Sarfraz is a king.” these men, schools are everything. They would unusual man. (“Greg is simply not one of us,” you should consider using your vocational “Bilal presents a tray laden with almonds, wal - Altogether, the CAI’s staff in Pakistan and lay down their lives for girls’ education.” she likes to say.) But sharing a life with Morten - center to start a book club—” nuts, candy, and yogurt-covered raisins. Then a Afghanistan totals about a dozen men. The son has resulted in twists that even she might Sarfraz’s translation is cut short by yet an - butler comes in and asks if we want tea—green roster includes a mountaineering porter, a OUR JOURNEY CONFORMS to the pattern of a not have anticipated. other phone call. This time it’s Suleman Min - tea with cardamom and mint. And then, all of a devout Shiite scholar, a farmer who’s the typical CAI road trip. Each day begins at dawn, Their modest home in Bozeman lacks a has,theCAI’soperationsmanagerforPakistan, sudden, President Musharraf himself walks in. ... was once home to our whole son of a Balti poet, a taxi driver, a man who when Mortenson and Sarfraz wake up in the third bedroom, so Mortenson and Bishop ringing from to work out details of He sits down right next to me and says, ‘Thank grew up in an Afghan refugee camp, a base- same clothes they’ve been wearing for more sleep in the upstairs hallway. Meanwhile, an “emergency” that arose earlier that day. you for taking the time to come and see us. We company. We were a small band of camp cook, and two former members of the than a week, surrounded by the clutter of their their daughter, Amira, 12, and their son, Khy - The man with no underwear, it seems, has have prepared a brunch, and hopefully you can Taliban. A quarter of them cannot read or mobile office. First on the agenda: morning ber, 8, have been forced to adjust to having a been summoned to have a cup of tea on Sunday stay for a while. Perhaps we may even have time friends who made great climb- write. Crucially, they are evenly divided ablutions, which consist of Mortenson smear - father who’s often absent: Mortenson was afternoon with General Pervez Musharraf, the for three cups of tea today.’” among the regional subsects of Islam: ing hand sanitizer on his face and hair while away while his kids learned to walk, talk, and president of Pakistan. Musharraf seems especially interested in ing gear. Founder Yvon Chouinard Sunni, Shia , and Ismaili (a liberal offshoot Sarfraz scratches himself. Then they pop the ride a bike. But the children have been treated We have 72 hours to get to Islamabad. acquainting himself with the CAI’s Pakistani of the Shia whose majority-recognized spir - cap on their jumbo bottle of ibuprofen, and to some exotic family vacations. Amira went staff, and Mortenson is happy to sit back and forged his pitons here. The rest of itual imam, the Aga Khan, is based in Paris). each man selects two or three tablets as a pre- to Pakistan for the first time at eight months, EARLY THE NEXT MORNING, thegroupsplits let them talk. Eventually, everyone is urged to us drilled hexes, assembled ice “If it weren’t for Greg, you probably breakfast appetizer. “When we’re going hard, and on one special occasion she got a tour of up. Sarfraz will spend the next week pushing move into a dining room where they’re joined wouldn’t even find these guys in the same we both go through about 12 or 15 of these the CAI’s latrine-building projects along the east, all the way to the end of the Wakhan, by Musharraf’s wife, Sehba, and sit down be - axes or slacked off when there was room sharing a cup of tea,” says Genevieve things a day,” says Mortenson. Baltoro Glacier. where the most remote school in the CAI ar - fore an elaborate buffet featuring chicken, Chabot, part of the CAI’s American staff, “but At this point, one of the two men may put When Mortenson’s on the road, Bishop keeps chipelago is located. Meanwhile, Mortenson mutton, and a host of other traditional dishes. surf. What once housed a black- with little pay and almost no supervision, on the pair of eyeglasses they share (they have close tabs on him, dialing Sarfraz’s satellite climbs into one of Khan’s pickups. We spend “We were supposed to meet him for 30 min - they’ve somehow found a way to make it work.” the same prescription) while the other steps phone every day or two as we move from village the next three days barnstorming down the utes,” Mortenson will tell me later that night, smith shop now holds something Whenever Mortenson is on the road, he outside with the toothbrush. (Yep, they share to village, where Mortenson is barraged by re - same roads we’ve just come up, while Morten - back at the Marriott. “We ended up being there more precious. travels with at least two or three of these men that, too.) One morning, I ask Mortenson to quests for assistance. In a place called Khun son works the phone to set up a series of char - for nearly four hours.” at all times. In Pakistan, they spend weeks provide a list of everything else that he and Dhud, there’s a man who wants money to set up terflights.AsWellingtononcesaidofWaterloo, This provokes astonishment and wonder racing about in the CAI’s battered green Land Sarfraz use together. a grocery store. In Ishkoshem, a pair of officials what happens after that is a close-run thing. from the CAI staff. “Most high-level delega - Cruiser with a box of dynamite stashed under “OK, let’s see, we share our jackets, our ra - seek funds for a water-delivery system, while In Faizabad, we almost miss our plane but tions—they only get very short meetings with Visit Patagonia.com/TinShed for the passenger seat—where Mortenson usual - zors, our soap, our socks, our shalwar kameez, another is hoping for a hydroelectric plant. In manage to board at the last second. In Kabul, Musharraf,” marvels Nazir. ly sits—so they can blast through rockslides our undershirts—” Pigiz, the school principal needs desks and fil - Wakil Karimi nearly loses our luggage but per - “No one will ever believe that humble vil - stories and videos from our friends and avalanches without having to wait for How about underwear? Do they share that? ing cabinets. The pleading is always polite, but forms a miraculous baggage transfer through lagers like us were there for almost four hours. government road crews. In Afghanistan, “Well, no, but ...” the needs are endless: more books, more pen - the front door of the airport. Later, as our Our families will never believe it. They will all and ambassadors. they’ll travel for 30 hours at a stretch, push - Mortenson hesitates, a sign that he may be cils, more uniforms, another school. flight makes its approach into Islamabad, the think us mad.” ing vehicles to the point of breakdown. In the concealing something. “Look, I’m not sure I “We get proposal after proposal, and we have pilot announces that a looming storm may spring and fall, they’ll hydroplane through want to reveal this, but there’s no sense in lying to say no to dozens of projects,” Mortenson force us to return to Kabul—but Mortenson’s ALAS, THE MEETING’S IMPACT will be negated the mud—which can be three feet deep in the about it, either. It turns out that I don’t actual - sighs one evening, while hearing a request from connections in the Pakistan military arrange in three days, when Musharraf resigns from of - Wakhan—until the axles get buried. While ly wear any underwear. I grew up in Tanzania, a group of local women who want him to pay for a VIP clearance that allows us to land. We fice. But as Mortenson sits and listens to his the drivers schlep off to find a yak team, they see, so I’ve kind of gone ‘’ for my for a new vocational center, where they’d be touch down just a few hours after Al Jazeera staff that afternoon, he isn’t thinking so much take off their shoes, and sometimes their entire life.” able to sew clothing and crafts to sell in the vil - reports that the Pakistani parliament has ini - about the future. Instead, he’s reflecting on pants, and start walking. “What about you, Sarfraz?” I demand. lage bazaar. “Some of these people have trav - tiated impeachment proceedings, pitching something that took place 37 years ago. When Mortenson and his men arrive at Sarfraz looks mildly embarrassed. “Alpine eled for days to present us with their requests. President Musharraf into the worst political “When it came time for my dad to open their destination, the first thing they do is style for me, too.” Others have been turned down by everyone crisis of his life. the hospital in Africa back in 1971,” he tells inspect the school, often surrounded by a “But one thing we don’t share,” Mortenson else they’ve asked. And often we’re forced to The following morning, a small black Toy - me later , “he got up and gave a speech in scrum of children tugging them by the hands. adds helpfully, “is our wives.” say no, too—like I’m going to have to do with ota Camry pulls up to the security barrier at which he predicted that, within ten years, Then they convene with the village heavy - “No, that we definitely do not share,” Sarfraz these ladies right here.” the Marriott Hotel, where, five weeks from the heads of all the departments would be weights for a jirga, or council session. Jirgas exclaims. “Wife sharing is a very bad idea!” Standing before the women, he turns to Sar - now, a truck bomb will demolish the entire locals from Tanzania. ‘It’s your country, it’s are solemn gatherings that feature long “Although we’re both really afraid of our fraz. “Your budget for the Wakhan is finished building and kill 60 people. Musharraf’s of - your hospital,’ he said—and when he did, speeches and dense deliberation; they usual - wives, so I suppose you could say we share our for this year, no?” he asks. This is true, but it’s fice makes it clear I’m not welcome, so I cool there was this collective gasp from the expat ly extend through dinner and last long into fear,” Mortenson adds. also a piece of pre-scripted theater that will lay my heels while Mortenson, clad in a spotless audience. This was a community, you see, the night. Toward dawn, Mortenson and “Actually,” corrects Sarfraz, “I am afraid of the groundwork for a diplomatic denial of the white shalwar kameez and a black vest, gets in who assumed that getting anything done company cram into an empty room or bunk my wife, of course, but I am also afraid of women’s request. the car. In addition to Suleman, he is joined by required a mzungu —a white man—wielding down on the floor of the school. Two hours Greg’s wife, too.” “Finished,” Sarfraz confirms while pulling two other members of the Dirty Dozen: Mo - a kiboko, a hippo-hide whip. later, the circus packs up and heads off to the Tara Bishop, lodestar to the intergalactic out his phone, which is ringing. He glances at hammed Nazir, 29, who manages several proj - “But you know what? That’s exactly what next project. mess that passes for Mortenson’s life, is the the number and passes it to Mortenson, han - ects in Baltistan; and Apo Abdul Razak, 75, happened. My dad died of cancer in 1980, and “Sometimes we don’t stop for five or six daughter of Barry Bishop, a National Geo - dling it as if it had spontaneously caught fire. who spent 40 years cooking for mountaineer - two years later, when we got the annual report days,” says Sarfraz. “This is the only way to graphic photographer who was part of the first It’s Tara Bishop, calling from Bozeman. ing expeditions in the and now from the hospital for 1981, my mom showed it get to all the projects and to see all the people American ascent of Everest, in 1963. Tara met “Oh, hi, sweetie!” Mortenson says. He lis - serves as Mortenson’s diplomatic emissary to to me with tears in her eyes. Every single de - we need to see.” Mortenson in San Francisco in 1995, at an event tens a moment. “Well, right now I’ve got some recalcitrant mullahs, greedy bureaucrats, and partment head was from Tanzania, just as he’d “I think of these guys as the Dirty Dozen,” in which Sir Edmund Hillary spoke about his women who want a vocational center. I’ve got bad-tempered gunmen. predicted.” says Mortenson. “Most of them are renegades own school-building efforts in Nepal. A few like 20 of them surrounding me, and they’ve Mortenson and the crew are shuttled into I ask Mortenson if he has any similar predic - or misfits, but over the years we’ve empowered hours after laying eyes on Mortenson, she an - got this really feisty leader, but I’m afraid we’re the military section of Rawalpindi, where the tions to make. them to make a difference in their communi - nounced her intention to “kidnap” him. They gonna have to say no, because ... Oh. All right, I president lives, and deposited in front of an “My hope,” he says, “is that, in 15 years, the ties. And in response, they’re now running were married six days later. Ten days after that, promise. Yes, sweetie. Bye now.” elegant, mogul-style residence. Bilal Mushar - Dirty Dozen will all be women.” o around doing a job that it would take a dozen Mortenson flew back to Pakistan to finish His next words, directed at the women, raf—the president’s son—comes out to greet organizations to match. It’s hard to explain, but building the Korphe school. are translated by Sarfraz: “Wife-Boss says them. They are ushered into a waiting room KEVIN FEDARKO WROTE ABOUT PILOTING I don’t really do much over here anymore ex - Bishop, who has a Ph.D. in clinical psycholo - we must somehow find the funds for your adorned with a red carpet. A GRAND CANYON LATRINE BOAT IN JULY.

140 Outside OUTSIDEONLINE.COM Outside 141 Photo: Tim Davis © 2008 Patagonia, Inc. vocational center. Wife-Boss also says that “Simple but elegant,” Mortenson later says. you should consider using your vocational “Bilal presents a tray laden with almonds, wal - center to start a book club—” nuts, candy, and yogurt-covered raisins. Then a Sarfraz’s translation is cut short by yet an - butler comes in and asks if we want tea—green other phone call. This time it’s Suleman Min - tea with cardamom and mint. And then, all of a has,theCAI’soperationsmanagerforPakistan, sudden, President Musharraf himself walks in. ... was once home to our whole ringing from Rawalpindi to work out details of He sits down right next to me and says, ‘Thank an “emergency” that arose earlier that day. you for taking the time to come and see us. We company. We were a small band of The man with no underwear, it seems, has have prepared a brunch, and hopefully you can been summoned to have a cup of tea on Sunday stay for a while. Perhaps we may even have time friends who made great climb- afternoon with General Pervez Musharraf, the for three cups of tea today.’” president of Pakistan. Musharraf seems especially interested in ing gear. Founder Yvon Chouinard We have 72 hours to get to Islamabad. acquainting himself with the CAI’s Pakistani staff, and Mortenson is happy to sit back and forged his pitons here. The rest of EARLY THE NEXT MORNING, thegroupsplits let them talk. Eventually, everyone is urged to us drilled hexes, assembled ice up. Sarfraz will spend the next week pushing move into a dining room where they’re joined east, all the way to the end of the Wakhan, by Musharraf’s wife, Sehba, and sit down be - axes or slacked off when there was where the most remote school in the CAI ar - fore an elaborate buffet featuring chicken, chipelago is located. Meanwhile, Mortenson mutton, and a host of other traditional dishes. surf. What once housed a black- climbs into one of Khan’s pickups. We spend “We were supposed to meet him for 30 min - the next three days barnstorming down the utes,” Mortenson will tell me later that night, smith shop now holds something same roads we’ve just come up, while Morten - back at the Marriott. “We ended up being there more precious. son works the phone to set up a series of char - for nearly four hours.” terflights.AsWellingtononcesaidofWaterloo, This provokes astonishment and wonder what happens after that is a close-run thing. from the CAI staff. “Most high-level delega - In Faizabad, we almost miss our plane but tions—they only get very short meetings with Visit Patagonia.com/TinShed for manage to board at the last second. In Kabul, Musharraf,” marvels Nazir. Wakil Karimi nearly loses our luggage but per - “No one will ever believe that humble vil - stories and videos from our friends forms a miraculous baggage transfer through lagers like us were there for almost four hours. the front door of the airport. Later, as our Our families will never believe it. They will all and ambassadors. flight makes its approach into Islamabad, the think us mad.” pilot announces that a looming storm may force us to return to Kabul—but Mortenson’s ALAS, THE MEETING’S IMPACT will be negated connections in the Pakistan military arrange in three days, when Musharraf resigns from of - for a VIP clearance that allows us to land. We fice. But as Mortenson sits and listens to his touch down just a few hours after Al Jazeera staff that afternoon, he isn’t thinking so much reports that the Pakistani parliament has ini - about the future. Instead, he’s reflecting on tiated impeachment proceedings, pitching something that took place 37 years ago. President Musharraf into the worst political “When it came time for my dad to open crisis of his life. the hospital in Africa back in 1971,” he tells The following morning, a small black Toy - me later , “he got up and gave a speech in ota Camry pulls up to the security barrier at which he predicted that, within ten years, the Marriott Hotel, where, five weeks from the heads of all the departments would be now, a truck bomb will demolish the entire locals from Tanzania. ‘It’s your country, it’s building and kill 60 people. Musharraf’s of - your hospital,’ he said—and when he did, fice makes it clear I’m not welcome, so I cool there was this collective gasp from the expat my heels while Mortenson, clad in a spotless audience. This was a community, you see, white shalwar kameez and a black vest, gets in who assumed that getting anything done the car. In addition to Suleman, he is joined by required a mzungu —a white man—wielding two other members of the Dirty Dozen: Mo - a kiboko, a hippo-hide whip. hammed Nazir, 29, who manages several proj - “But you know what? That’s exactly what ects in Baltistan; and Apo Abdul Razak, 75, happened. My dad died of cancer in 1980, and who spent 40 years cooking for mountaineer - two years later, when we got the annual report ing expeditions in the Karakoram and now from the hospital for 1981, my mom showed it serves as Mortenson’s diplomatic emissary to to me with tears in her eyes. Every single de - recalcitrant mullahs, greedy bureaucrats, and partment head was from Tanzania, just as he’d bad-tempered gunmen. predicted.” Mortenson and the crew are shuttled into I ask Mortenson if he has any similar predic - the military section of Rawalpindi, where the tions to make. president lives, and deposited in front of an “My hope,” he says, “is that, in 15 years, the elegant, mogul-style residence. Bilal Mushar - Dirty Dozen will all be women.” o raf—the president’s son—comes out to greet them. They are ushered into a waiting room KEVIN FEDARKO WROTE ABOUT PILOTING adorned with a red carpet. A GRAND CANYON LATRINE BOAT IN JULY.

OUTSIDEONLINE.COM Outside 141 Photo: Tim Davis © 2008 Patagonia, Inc.