People: Julia Shepardson -- 'Unsung Hero of Compassion' People: Julia Shepardson -- 'Unsung Hero of Compassion' (July 25, 2001)

For decades, Julia Shepardson has helped refugees and those in need of medical care, particularly in Nepal

By Marjorie Mader

Almanac Staff Writer

When His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama visited the Bay Area recently, Julia Shepardson of Portola Valley was honored by him as one of 50 "Unsung Heroes of Compassion."

He gave her the traditional Tibetan welcoming scarf, a "kata" of white silk, placing it on her shoulders during the formal ceremony May 16 in the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose.

Julia learned last November that she was going to be a recipient of the award but says, "I didn't know and appreciate the magnitude of it then." She suspects she was nominated by a Tibetan, Tenzin Tethong, with whom she has worked on Tibetan projects.

"I don't think of myself as being compassionate," says Julia matter of factly, downplaying the spin about the award and her involvement. "Being useful" is how she describes her motivation. "It's more seeing a need and filling it, being useful to others to help them carry on with their lives. I always wanted to use my life to connect with people."

Her interest in Nepal and concern for helping others developed after she graduated from San Jose State in 1968 and decided to explore the world. She landed in Nepal and stayed, working in the villages, teaching English in the schools, and then volunteering at the local remote health post.

"I became really aware of the health needs in Nepal and the obstacles _ the delivery system, lack of supplies, the doctors' frustrations," she says.

Julia has made 12 trips to Nepal, sometimes as a volunteer and sometimes with her family _ husband Fred Shepardson and sons Todd and Brett. "I'm fortunate to have the support of my family," she says.

She met her husband in Kathmandu, Nepal's capital, almost 30 years ago. Fred was writing the first disaster plan for Nepal. Later, he was sent to a Tibetan refugee camp in Nepal under the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the Nepal Red Cross, and put in charge of a joint resettlement plan during a time of detente with China.

Julia started a handicraft center at the camp, did health work and one summer helped install a water system with her husband and sons.

"There was always plenty to do," she says. "I know now I can live months on end in a mud hut with no running water and no electricity, and be perfectly content."

Settling in Portola Valley in the early 1980s, Julia continued her work helping refugees and immigrants. In the mid- to late-1990s, she was executive director of Survivors International, a San Francisco-based organization that provides counseling and social services to torture survivors from around the world who seek refuge in the Bay Area. This group also provides medical and psychological evaluation for political asylum cases.

About this time Julia became involved in starting a project to aid refugees from Iraq, organizing a network of 40 physicians and psychologists to provide services pro bono.

Her current project is supporting the American Nepal Medical Foundation, started by Nepali physicians in North America and Nepal to provide continuing medical education in Nepal. She serves on the executive committee. The foundation fosters a working relationship between physicians in Nepal and the United States by sending doctors to Nepal to teach medical specialties and raising funds for computer equipment for hospitals and medical schools.

Julia sees as a hopeful venture that the Kathmandu University Medical School will start its first class this fall. Sixteen medical doctors, Ph.D.s and post-docs from Harvard will go to the university as volunteers to teach medical science for five- to 15-week stints.

She hopes Bay Area physicians will volunteer to teach their specialties at the medical school. The government of Nepal has donated land for the private medical school and is looking for people to help build the buildings.

"I keep busy," says Julia, as she tackles project after project in her quiet, determined and effective way. "I like to concentrate on one project at a time. I love the work and the people I meet, and I find it tremendously satisfying."
FOR INFORMATION

For information about the American Nepal Medical Foundation, visit www.anmf.net, or write to the foundation at 108 Portola Road, Suite 108, Portola Valley, CA 94028-7899.