Motherhouse after the front gate was locked for the evening, he was admitted by a nun and escorted down a dark hallway to view Mother Teresa ’ s corpse. “ She lay on a simple cot, at the center of a bright room full of flickering devotional candles. Mortenson gently nudged other bouquets aside, making room for his gaudy offering, and took a seat against a wall. The nun, backing out the door, left him alone with Mother Teresa … . ‘ I sat in the corner staring at this shrouded figure, ’ Mortenson says. ‘ She looked so small, draped in her cloth. And I remember thinking how amazing it was that such a tiny person had such a huge effect on humanity. ’… Mortenson knelt on the cool tiled floor next to Mother Teresa and placed his large palm over her small hand. ” This a poignant anecdote, but it ’ s difficult to reconcile with the fact that Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997, three years before Mortenson says he knelt beside her in Calcutta.
5 In March 2004, the American Himalayan Foundation suspended Mortenson ’ s stipend because he ’ d repeatedly failed to report how he had used funds from the Hoerni/Pakistan Fund, as required by the Internal Revenue Service, despite repeated requests to do so.
6 http://www.edutopia.org/greg-mortenson-webinar-archive
7 http ://www.edutopia.org/greg-mortenson-webinar-archive
8 There is no evidence to suggest that Kevin Fedarko was aware of the falsehoods published in Stones into Schools . Because of the extraordinary deadline pressure he was under, he had no opportunity to fact-check what he ghostwrote for Mortenson, nor did his job description include that responsibility. Fedarko had no choice but to accept Mortenson ’ s word that what he and Sarfraz Khan reported to him was accurate.
9 At the time, CAI was in fact not registered as a “ charity NGO ” in Afghanistan. It wasn ’ t registered as such until 2008 (see Stones into Schools , pages 296 – 298).
10 On Friday, April 15, 2011, CBS News announced that on Sunday, April 17, 60 Minutes would broadcast a report casting doubt on the accuracy of Mortenson ’ s books and raising questions about the financial practices of CAI. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/15/60minutes/main20054397.shtml
About the Author
Jon Krakauer is the author of Eiger Dreams , Into the Wild , Into Thin Air , Under the Banner of Heaven , and Where Men Win Glory . He is also the editor of the Modern Library Exploration series.
Photograph by: Roman Dial
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