Greg Mortenson

In 1981 a college student from South Dakota traveled to Telluride to watch mountaineering movies and climb mountains. He slept in his car that first year and loved Mountainfilm Festival so much he has returned throughout the years.

“He grew up around Mountainfilm and Mountainfilm grew up around him,” said Festival Director David Holbrooke.

That college student was humanitarian Greg Mortenson, who is returning once again this weekend, except this time he’s doing much more than watching movies.

Mortenson, author of the bestselling books “Three Cups of Tea” and “Stones Into Schools,” will speak at High Camp Sunday at noon followed by a Q&A session with The New Yorker’s George Packer, and will do a Breakfast Talk Monday morning at the Ah Haa School at 8 a.m.

Mortenson is the founder of the Central Asia Institute, which builds schools in war-torn and volatile regions Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“When we were struggling 16 years ago, the people of Mountainfilm really believed in what we were doing,” Mortenson said. “It’s a special place for us.”

He literally stumbled on his life calling to help the children, especially the young girls, of Pakistan (and eventually Afghanistan) after a failed climb of K2 in Pakistan in 1993.

In the tiny mountain village of Korphe his life mission became promoting literacy and education and since that fateful climb he has established over 141 schools providing education to over 64,00 children, including 52,000 girls.

After years of work in the region, and with an acute sense of intuition, Mortenson isn’t your typical philanthropist trying to help those less fortunate.

The secret to his success is working with the local people and asking what they need and building trust with the elders.

“We empower the people,” Mortenson said. “When we set up a school, we provide teacher training, materials and skill labor but the community has to match it. It’s a 50/50 thing.

“That’s one of the reasons that not one of our schools have been shut down or destroyed by the Taliban, because the community stands behind it.”

Mortenson said that after talking to the women of Pakistan and Afghanistan it comes down to two simple things: they don’t want their babies to die and they want their children to go to school.

“That’s the main reason why I do this,” Mortenson said. “I’m just a normal guy, I have no religious or ideological agenda.”

On June 10 Mortenson will return to Afghanistan to monitor CAI projects and act as a cheerleader since local staff now run day-to-day operations.

In anticipation of the U.S. military’s Operation Omid — which is set to increase troop numbers in Kandahar, Afghanistan this summer to try to secure the southern area —Mortenson wants to reassure his schools in the area that regardless of military activity the CAI will continue to educate and empower the locals.

“My main agenda is to go there and drink tea and listen,” Mortenson said. “We need to empower the elders and listen more, not just listen to the people but look at a situations from their perspective and build relationships.”

The title of his first book “Three Cups of Tea” refers to a Balti proverb “The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time, you share a cup of tea, you become family.”

It’s safe to assume that he has had more than three cups of tea here in Telluride and he has certainly become family.

Copyright © 2010 Telluride Daily Planet

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