Greg Mortenson

The improbable journey of Greg Mortenson, the self-described “dirtbag” mountain climber whose failed attempt to scale one of the world’s highest mountains turned into a human rights triumph, will make a stop here this spring.

The author of the best-sellers “Three Cups of Tea” and the recently released sequel, “Stones Into Schools,” will receive the Salem Award for Human Rights and Social Justice in a May 1 ceremony at Salem High School.

The awards committee made the announcement yesterday, the culmination of a nearly two-year effort to land Mortenson, who is in great demand as a public speaker. While not away in central Asia building schools, he travels the country almost nonstop promoting his message of “peace with books, not bombs.”

“We were very excited when we knew we were getting him because we thought it wasn’t going to happen,” said Meg Twohey, chairwoman of The Salem Award committee. “He is a really remarkable person, just an extraordinary person and his story is so incredible.”

Since staggering half-frozen into a village in the mountains of northern Pakistan in 1993 after failing to reach the summit of K2, Mortenson has gone on to launch a nonprofit foundation that has built 131 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, with a special focus on girls’ education, and completed numerous public works projects.

He has done all this at great personal risk and sacrifice. He has been taken captive, fallen deathly ill and been targeted by the Taliban. He also is revered by many Muslims and received one of Pakistan’s highest civil awards.

Although he accepts no U.S. government financial aid, Mortenson has been asked to speak to American military personnel on how to improve relations with local villagers in Afghanistan. His books are now required reading for many U.S. military and diplomatic personnel.

Mortenson is the 18th recipient of the Salem Award, which began in 1992, the tercentenary of the Salem Witch Trials, to honor the memory of those 20 victims. Other recipients include a hero of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, a Chinese dissident, a college professor working to stop the genocide in Darfur and lawyers who represented an alleged terrorist held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The attempt to honor Mortenson began almost two years ago when Brian Watson, co-chairman of a search committee for The Salem Award, contacted the Central Asia Institute in Montana, Mortenson’s charity and home base. After many conversations over several months, a CAI official finally said Mortenson was coming to the Boston area and would be delighted to accept the award.

“When I came to the committee and said he had accepted … there was just a palpable sense of excitement,” Watson said.

Although past recipients have appeared at the Peabody Essex Museum, Mortenson was moved to Salem High because a large crowd is expected and the school setting seemed fitting, Twohey said, for a man who has dedicated his life to building schools in one of the poorest and most remote corners of the world.

This spring, the Salem Public Schools will participate in one of Mortenson’s foundation’s programs, Pennies for Peace, to raise funds to support his efforts. They plan to present a check to Mortenson during his visit.

The Salem Award also comes with a $7,500 honorarium.

While thrilled about the selection of Mortenson, committee members are also excited about the public exposure his visit should bring to The Salem Award.

“We always look for candidates who have truly committed their lives to a cause that really helps people in some form,” Twohey said, “and that is also related, in our minds, to the Witch Trials. We’re looking for people who really foster tolerance. Greg Mortenson fits the bill perfectly because he has been doing this work for so long and has committed his life to it.”

(c) The Salem News (MA)

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