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An American nonprofit medicates Nepal Traveling and drugs have gone hand in hand since. well. traveling and drugs have been around. Merchants brought coffee from the Middle East to Europe much to the chagrin of local moralizers during the 1500s. Paul Bowles and William S. Burroughs wrote tomes about their drug use in Morocco. Finding hallucinogens in Latin America, opium in Thailand and just about anything in India is, for some, part of the travel experience. But bringing drugs the other way-from the stocked pharmacies of the First World to the empty shelves of Third World-has become the business of a new traveling class that wants to give back to the places they've been going. "We're ready to take this to the next level." says photographer Janice Belson, the 60-year- old founder of Medicines for Nepal. a nonprofit group that's bringing medicines into the impoverished Himalayan country. "Not only do we want to adventure travel. but we want to give back to where we travel to." Since 1999, Medicines for Nepal has delivered hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of "basic humanitarian first-aid supplies"-surgical gloves to kits that provide sterile environments during childbirth-to clinics along the Annapurna trail. and to Kathmandu's Kanti Children's Hospital. "The medical situation is dire," says Sarah Gossage, Director of Administration at Operation USA. an organization that supplied Medicines for Nepal with thousands of doses of phar- maceutical vitamin A to combat early childhood blindness. "Nepal needs basics like diarrhea medi- cines because the water supply isn't the cleanest in the world. A cut on the leg can become a major health problem because there are no antibacterials to treat it." While the mountain region has countless health clinics, most are inadequately supplied. "You'll be moving along the Annapurna Trail and see a stone building that looks like all the other stone buildings," says Belson, who had dreamed of visiting Mount Everest ever since Sir Edmund Hillary made headlines when she was girl. and finally did to celebrate her 50th birthday. "You walk in and it has yellowed posters on the wall that show health procedures. You look over to any given shelf and maybe you'll see six boxes of Band-Aids. There's practically nothing in these government facilities and it's been like that forever." To solve this, Belson started Medicines for Nepal to help the country she loves. She's cur- rently motivating industry insiders to donate gear and funds (WL. Gore, Whole Foods and Leki, among others have given so far) and looking for medicine donation from such relief agencies as Americares and Operation USA. However, some people believe her overarching impact will be to change the way adventurers travel. "I think Medicines for Nepal is potentially shifting people's consciousness about their travels," says Gossage. "Janice is trying to reach the 100,000 adventure travelers going into Nepal each year, trying to get them to bring $10 to $15 worth of medicines. Even simple things, like iodine." And it's not just Nepal that needs help. "My obsession might be Nepal but this is a global problem," says Belson. "The goal is to get travelers to bring an extra tube of antibacterial cream, an extra first aid kit. Instead of just buying one of something, buy two. And if people are going to Peru or Bhutan or Africa, there are always clinics that need supplies there too."-Michael J. Cervieri HOW TO HELP: It's not as easy as just throwing an extra bottle of Pepto-Bismol on your bag. Find out what med- ical supplies are most needed at your destination. By mid-2003. Medicines for Nepal will feature a network on its website that will refer travelers to specific hospitals to contact in countries around the world. GETIING ACROSS THE BORDER: Many countries, such as India, Pakistan and Turkey have lists of medicines that are not allowed to be brought into the country. Contact the relevant embassy before you start your trip. To avoid problems when passing through customs. keep medicines in their original. labeled containers. CONTACT MEDICINES FOR NEPAL PHONE: 310-556-0809 WEBSITE: WWWMEDICINESFORNEPAL.ORG EMAIL: JBPHOTOD@ATIBI.COM 21