January  1997

DOGS YOU'LL MEET

A NEW LOOK

RULES MANUAL

Individuals wanting additional copies of the HOA Rules Manual may obtain them by calling John Marsh.

TIMELY NOTE

Reports indicate that 51 homes with shake roofs were destroyed by fire in the Harmony Grove area. The HOA, of course, has replaced all of its shake roofs with concrete tile.

COMMUNICATING WITH CURTIS

Homeowners wishing to speak with our Property Manager, Marysia Leu, are urged to contact Curtis Management Company.

VILLA MONTEREY NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD

After months of waiting and anticipation, I finally received my short-term appointment to rejoin the International Assistance Mission in Kabul, Afghanistan as a volunteer worker. I had spent the year of 1991 working there and had come to love the people and their hospitality, graciousness, and stoicism in the face of '17 years of war. Getting into the country under present conditions was not easy, but on August 3rd, I managed to board a cargo flight from New Delhi to Kabul. The airport there had been under rocket and bombing attacks so often the runway was not usable, so we landed at Bagram, the government military air base forty minutes north of the capitol. After shifting from one home to another several times, I was finally assigned to the same house were I had lived in 1991, except that the upper floor where I had been quartered before was no longer usable and I moved into the ground floor. Rocketing was heavy on many days, we were under curfew regulations and our movements were restricted, but - although one of the homes where I had stayed for a few days was partially destroyed by a direct rock hit - the team members remained unharmed. In a section of the city where I lived and worked, there was no electricity, so no refrigeration. The entire city was without telephones and our running water was from storage tanks on the roofs, which had to be replenished by pumping water from the wells located in most backyards. This required using diesel generators to run the pumps and was done on a rotational basis to each of the homes in turn.

Toward the end of September, the situation deteriorated when the Taliban forces had captured most of the major cities in the country and were on a rapid march to take Kabul. I accepted the offer of the International Red Cross for a seat on the last evacuation plane out of Kabul before the city was captured. I spent a week in Peshawar, Pakistan, before being recalled to Kabul, as things had quieted down temporarily. By the end of another week, the ousted forces had joined ranks and were rapidly retaking areas to the north of the city. When the fighting reached 12 kilometers from the outskirts of Kabul, the United Nations and Red Cross advised all non-government agencies to evacuate their personnel, as they were doing. I had promised my family that if things became too dangerous, I would get out and again accepted a seat on the United Nations evacuation plane to Peshawar. After much soul-searching and consideration of all aspects of the situation, I decided to come home. It was a long flight home, 48 hours from Peshawar, through Lahore, New Delhi, Amsterdam, Detroit and San Diego, but I was not too tired to gaze in appreciation at the lights, good roads, lack of military road blocks, quiet nights unbroken by the sound of rockets landing or being launched, and being able to move freely wherever I please.