Saturday, April 04, 2009
Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures
This book was recommended to me recently, amongst others, and I chose to read it first. Despite the skeevy, eye-catching title, it's more serious and covers a whole lot of ground in UN peacekeeping operations. I say kudos to the marketing.
It's a first-person account by a Harvard-grad lawyer (Ken), a New York social worker (Heidi), and a Kiwi doctor (Dr. Andrew) who were in the most dangerous conflict zones during the 90's. As they went from Condition Alpha ("All is clear") to Condition Echo ("End of the line, evacuate urgently to save your life"), escalating in danger and human travesty at each stage, I became more drawn and involved in their human drama. I think it's an incredibly honest account of being in the field - emotions, broken idealism, the need to believe in something, and the good days and the bad days.
The sweet vision of spreading democracy in Phnom Penh turned into chaotic cross-fires in Mogadishu, and eventually evacuations after 'black hawk down'. The US decision to pull out of Mogadishu had incredible domino effects, as Haiti and Rwanda quickly followed in anarchy. My blood boils each time I look at what happened in Rwanda (video: "Ghosts of Rwanda"). I wasn't as familiar with the violence and political backgrounds in Haiti and Bosnia; now the images of Dr. Andrew in the Haitian morgues and the bulldozed mass graveyards in Srebrenica haunt my mind.
Despair. Optimism. Individual survival. Altruistic visions for universal peace. Lust. Friendship. Cynicism. Humor. -- it's all mashed together in their personal diaries. It's an unforgettable read.
// posted by sakit @ 8:44 AM 
