A Personal Reflection on Far From the Road: A Community Health Project in the Himalayas

  • John E Paul Professor Emeritus, Health Policy and Administration, Gillings School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46405/ejms.v7i10.592
Keywords: Trek, Nepal, Mountain, Book - Far From the Road

Abstract

Fifty-five years seems like a long time ago. But when memories are triggered, it can seem like a day. Such was my experience in reading Far from the Road: A Community Health Project in the Himalayas coauthored by Mary Murphy, C. Ross Anthony, Stephen Bezruchka, and Michael Payne [1].
In 1969, I became a U.S. rural development Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV), based in Tansen, central western Nepal. I was a “B.A. generalist” in Peace Corps lingo, vaguely qualified and minimally trained technically–but I did learn spoken and written Nepali, made many friends, and fell in love with the country and its culture.
This book resonated with my experiences in Nepal. At every turn it provided connections to experiences I had in Peace Corps between 1969 and 1971. Moreover, the photographs in the book are beautiful, informative, and complementary to the text.
Far from the Road is the story of the work beginning in 1974 of three former Nepal PCVs and a young Canadian physician to establish a community health project in Dhorpatan, a remote, impoverished high valley south of the Dhaulagiri massif.

Author Biography

John E Paul, Professor Emeritus, Health Policy and Administration, Gillings School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.

 

References

Murphy M, Anthony CR, Bezruchka S, Payne M. Far from the Road: A Community Health Project in the Himalayas. Oakland, CA: A Peace Corps Writers Book; 2025.

Published
2025-12-20
How to Cite
1.
Paul JE. A Personal Reflection on Far From the Road: A Community Health Project in the Himalayas . Europasian J. Med. Sci. [Internet]. 2025Dec.20 [cited 2026Oct.10];7(10):1-. Available from: https://europasianjournals.org/ejms/index.php/ejms/article/view/592
Issue
Vol 7 (2025): Europasian Journal of Medical Sciences (EJMS) | Continuous Issue 10
Section
Book Review

Copyright (c) 2025 John E Paul

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