Originally published in Outpost Magazine

Travellers to Nepal can make a difference by leaving something behind.

You plunk your backpack down and stretch out on the hostel bunk. As muffled voices drift through the walls, you replay the last four months of trekking in your head. But, like a tug at the sleeve, you're reminded of the shoeless boy you saw with the sunburnt cheeks and calloused hands. If only you could have done more than give him candy. Medicines for Nepal [also called Medicines Global] a non-profit based in Los Angeles, focuses on improving world health by creating a structure for travellers to drop off first-aid supplies to medical centres in Nepal.

"It's so easy," says Janice Belson, a former TV unit photographer and executive director of Medicines for Nepal. "Just bring a box of Band- Aids, re-hydration salts or Neosporin instead of bubble gum, balloons or candy."

On a photographic trek to Nepal in 1992, Belson witnessed children suffering severe nutritional deficiencies, including one child who had gone blind due to a lack of vitamin A. Injured while travelling five years later, she motivated herself back to health with her dream of returning and giving something back.

The Kingdom of Nepal, draped over the Himalayas between China and India, is one of the poorest nations in the world. Despite the influx of over 400,000 tourists last year, almost half the population lacks basic health care.

"Five hundred thousand dollars worth of medical supplies have been delivered," says Belson. "And we have helped over 100,000 Nepalese with vitamin A deficiency."

Since its inception in 1999, over 4,000 travellers have delivered medical supplies to Nepal. Group expeditions and independent travellers have "doubled up" on their personal medical kits or dropped off supplies given to them by Belson and her sponsors. "It was life-changing, and a tremendous opportunity to make the trip more meaningful," says Greg Wozer, general manager of Leki, makers of trekking and ski poles and one of the organization's sponsors. Wozer took part in the inaugural two-week 1999 trip, which took enough vitamin A to help 3,000 children.

"Once you're over there, it's too late. It's not like you can go to a store and pick up the supplies," says Wozer.

A year after first travelling to Nepal on a kayaking trip, Brett Gleason, 26, returned, but wanted to combine it with a humanitarian gesture. He called Belson, who supplied him with $4,000 of first-aid supplies donated by Adventure Medical Kits.

"It's such a good feeling to give back, to say thank you," says Gleason, who's hoping to return to Nepal this fall.

With Belson leading the way and sponsors such as ROI of Canada, who donate 25 cents of every running shoe sold, fuelling the cause, other countries needing medical supplies, such as Tibet and Laos, could one day be helped. Belson's dream is simple yet far-reaching. "We just want to put the idea of 'giving back' into the consciousness of people who travel."