Three Cups of Tea question

Mortensen himself acknowledged that he had elaborated parts of the story a year or two ago. His story about being famished and coming into the village after the trek and promising the villagers he would build them a school is a fabrication as is the story of his kidnapping.

The story is refashioned correctly on the web but I am too lazy to get you a link.

And yes, he is also a bit of a spendthrift. Instead of trying to get funds from established foundations that would be interested in supporting his schools, he jets around with his entourage first class to his speaking engagements. Most of his funds are from private individuals he has spoken to in such talks.

His annual reports are available on the web. I recall his garnering about 15 million a year. His advertising, public relations and marketing costs were extremely high and suspect. Auditors have checked some of the schools and found them abandoned but he has claimed that the visitors came during vacation breaks.

I suspect his numbers are padded. Yes, he´s doing a lot of good but he´s a bit of a bullshit artist, not a con.

I don`t believe it to be greed. He just likes to travel in comfort. He hasn´t been skimming off the top or stashing the money in a Swiss bank account as far as the news has revealed.

IRS did check into his organization and found some arrears but not in the finances but the setup. His board of directors had to be reorganized as he had too many friends on it. This is in itself not unusual as I know of two private universities in Georgia USA that were forced to do the same. It occurs when a founder or director wants to put "yes men" on the board so as to have minimal interference from overseers-not in itself so immoral from a financial standpoint but people in charge, ie. a board of directors might question the direction of the philanthropic efforts.

This does happen to many people who want to do good for others. Greed seems to take over.

I followed the criticisms when they came out and then re-read Three Cups of Tea. On my second reading, I realized the prologue from the co-author basically said, "I don't know how much of this is true, but some of it is and I just love Greg so much that I'm attaching my name to it anyway."
Nevertheless, my impression of Mortision was that he was a decent well meaning guy who didn't have the organizational skills or management skills to either write a book or run a large organization. He probably would have been better off attaching himself to an existing organization.

I read it early last year and am little foggy now about the specifics but mostly I felt and still feel, betrayed by the book.

I have not read it but 'Three Cups of Deceit' is supposed to expose the whole debacle very well:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

I remember not being particularly impressed with the writing in the original book, surprised even, at how clunky it was when at its worst. Even while reading it, feeling uplifted by the tale itself, it did seem sycophantic in its portrayal and too selective in its retelling. The controversy I encountered afterwards wasn't all that surprising on reflection and I was disappointed with myself for having let my guard down even a smidgen. Don't know if you have heard, the author committed suicide and I think Mortensen's lies are at least in small part, responsible for that sad outcome.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles...

Mortensen clearly isn't to be trusted, whatever good he may have done, he has been proven to be corrupt and enable the corrupt in a land already filled with turmoil. I admit to perhaps being too naive in my condemnation of him, perhaps it's impossible to do anything of consequence without getting your hands mucky but that doesn't mean he and his organisation are henceforth free to behave criminally and with immunity. Ultimately there are bigger fish to fry. I'm left wishing I'd never wasted my time on him and instead just read Edmund Hilary's earlier book 'Schoolhouse in the Clouds'.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/a...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles...

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/questions...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/opi...

http://www.outsideonline.com/blog/gre...

He also reported to have built schools (after both books were published) that were never built. Or he stated that multiple schools were up in running but when the inspectors arrived they were merely abandoned buildings. For me, it was a very wonderful idea that did not come to fruition for too many terrible reasons.

That is so terrible that the author committed suicide---absolutely tragic. That saddens me very much and makes me feel disgusted with Greg M. even more.

I liked "Three Cups of Tea" and still do.
Of course transitional passages may take advantage of literary license. That needs to happen. Outright lying is not acceptable, and, it is possible the book was not properly edited. A good editor would have eliminated the parts that seemed untrue, and tied up the story correctly.

As I recall there is permission given by the primary sponsor to Mortensen to use the donated money for his needs in operating the schools' projects. It's in the portion detailing the dying of the primary sponsor whose name I do not recall. He tells Greg what he is putting in his will about the Central Asian effort.

Also, I noted each of the news outlets named who denounced Greg Mortensen. Each is a proponent of "fake news" in the Mainstream Media, extraordinarily liberal news outlets which would bend over backwards to demean a positive, conserving endeavor.

thanks so much for this update. Back when I was teaching school, we had Greg and his daughter in for an assembly and held several different Pennies for Peace drives which were wonderful for spreading awareness among elementary kids on how they could help others, even very far away. I, too, felt like this attack was such a vendetta....how petty and sad.

I wish Greg and the Central Asia Institute nothing but good: it's easy to criticize and do nothing to actually help those in need.