On the final day of our two week visit we bussed a few miles outside of Kathmandu's city center to the rim of the valley. We saw several temples and, of course, many interesting people.

One final note, and a sobering one. The beautiful Kathmandu valley is in deep trouble. Once it was covered with rich topsoil but now that soil is being turned into millions of tons of bricks. Now chimneys belch out smoke. Poisonous chemicals from hundreds of carpet factories pollute the streams throughout the valley. There is a growing, severe city sprawl. It took ages to form this fertile soil, but at the current rate of destruction, Kathmandu could lose this irreplaceable wealth in less than twenty years.

Nepal's own population is growing too rapidly while refugees stream across the porous borders from China, India and Bhutan. Unless the population is controlled and migration is regulated, the nightmare will worsen.

We must realize a world-wide obligation to assist the people of Nepal and so many other third world nations who cannot handle their life-threatening problems all by themselves.