CLARKS GROVE &045; An improvement in public heath cannot stand alone without improvements in other social factors that create the health problems. The activities of a Freeborn County-based aid organization in Nepal have been developed in accordance with this principle.

Retired veterinarian Earl Thompson from Clarks Grove traveled the poverty-stricken Himalayan country in 1984 and was inspired to dedicate the rest of his life to empowering the people in the rural area.

&uot;I felt I would be useful to teach and change people’s lives there,&uot; Thompson said. &uot;And I was terribly interested in different cultures and people.&uot;

Hand in hand with his wife Beverly, who is a public health nurse, Earl established a non-profit organization, the Nepal Social Service Fund, and opened a clinic in the western frontier region called Vaitadi.

While providing help with immediate needs to treat injuries and infections, the clinic also commits to long-term health-care solutions by informing residents about issues such as pre-natal care, personal hygiene, and nutrition.

&uot;50 percent of children die before reaching five-years-old,&uot; said Beverly. Many of the deaths derive from simple diseases such as a diarrhea, resulting from a lack of knowledge on proper diet. Some social beliefs like an inhibition to be at a the scene of a birth also impede the survival rate of babies and infants. &uot;What’s needed is education for women,&uot; she said.

They took a more active approach when they organized a six-month-long literacy class focusing on women. A team of locally hired teachers goes into remote villages, where girls are customarily not allowed to go to existing public schools, to offer a fifth-grade level language course.

More than 1,000 women in almost 100 villages have completed the program so far. The class also helps the organization recruit candidates to be staff members at the clinic. Selected women are sent to the capital city Katmandu to have medical training.

A goat, the main livestock in the region, is given to the graduates along with a diploma.

Providing a solid economic basis is important not only to reduce the health problems rooted in poverty, but also to mitigate some cold attitudes existing among men toward the idea of empowering women, Beverly explained.

Employing his animal-heath expertise, Earl has also implemented a livestock-improvement project.

The artificial insemination of local cows and goats with western semen he brought has resulted in genetically superior offspring that produce a greater quantity of milk and meat.

Trying to establish nutritionally sound eating habits, Earl has introduced 20 different vegetable and crop seeds and encourages the people to diversify the agricultural products they grow.

Earl spends three to eight months of every year in the region, where no electricity or telephones are available. His efforts were recognized by the constitutional monarchy with the Gorka Dakshin Bahu National Award in 1999. Earl plans to go back to the country this fall.