How It All Goes Down
Mortenson in Motion
- At 3:00AM (what year? What month? We have no idea) Mortenson finds out that the sher of Chakpo has issued a fatwa against him. (And when sher speaks, you listen.)
- He types up an e-mail informing the board of the CAI (Central Asia Institute) of the fatwa (a "religious ruling" (15.11)) and he lets them know that will not be stopping him.
- We get a quick flashback to when Julia Bergman, a.k.a. "the blonde in the helicopter" (15.17), joined the board. She's a librarian who has been helping Mortenson gather books for the schools.
- In March, Mortenson travels back to Pakistan and meets with Haji Ali, Twaha, and Faisal Baig, who was once George McCown's chaperone and now assists Mortenson.
- They've decided to try to break ground on three schools pronto.
- Mortenson then meets with Syed Abbas Risvi, a religious leader, who agrees to help and try to remove the fatwa.
- While he's off doing that, Mortenson "whirl[s] around Baltistan like a dervish" (15.52), constructing schools, women's centers, and more.
- He even brings Tara over to see his work, and they scatter Hoerni's ashes off the Korphe bridge.
- At a gathering, Mortenson discovers he's being followed by a Pakistani intelligence agent, but he has nothing to hide, so he isn't concerned.
- When a man spies on Tara while she's nursing, Faisal Baig beats him up.
- Winter is coming so Mortenson heads home after his busiest year in Pakistan yet.