Peace Corps Nurse — Rachel Cosgrove Payes

There was so much to be done in the Afghanistan village of Darreh-i-Angurha, so much Alice Warner, R.N., tried to do...only to be asked to leave by the people she wanted so much to serve!

The Valley Of Grapes . . .

A hair-raising ride over twisting, rainslick mountain roads brought Alice Warner to Darreh-i-Angurha - the Valley of Grapes - the village where she was sent to serve her tour of duty in Afghanistan . . . the village from which, instead, she would be driven in disgrace! But Alice had no thought of failure when she arrived, or in the weeks that followed. She loved the country and the people she had come to help.

There was Dr. Gholam Khan who worked miracles with an understaffed, poorly-equipped hospital. There was irrepressible Fawzia, the only other trained nurse in the area. There were Alice's “pupils” - six eager male student nurses!

Unfortunately, there was also Haji Ibrahim, the awesome village mullah, whose word was law, and whose resentment of Alice's attempt to recruit a local girl into the nursing profession ended in her banishment. But though Alice left the Valley of Grapes, she could not forget. A nd when disaster struck the village, nothing, not an army of Haji Ibrahim's evil djinns, could keep her from returning.

Confrontation...
Dr. Khan was distressed, Alice could see it immediately...
"Haji Ibrahim has talked to me," he said. "I'm so very sorry that there was unpleasantness between you..."
"I'm afraid I lost my temper," Alice admitted, "which is regrettable."
"Extremely regrettable," Dr. Khan agreed.
"I'm afraid the mullah has delivered an ultimatum."
"An ultimatum?" Alice repeated.
"He thinks you are a bad influence. He suggests that I request your transfer...
Alice was appalled. What would the Peace Corps think of her? She had come to Darreh-i-Angurha to help--not to cause trouble...

Hero: Sam Pritchard
Heroine: Nurse Alice Warner