First published 1985
Aid workers from major international organizations descend on Cambodia in the aftermath of devastation. Representatives from UNICEF, CARE, the Red Cross, OXFAM, and the World Council of Churches find themselves confronting a humanitarian crisis of staggering proportions. Each organization brings its own methods, priorities, and internal politics to bear on the suffering they encounter. The workers must navigate not only the logistical nightmares of delivering aid in a broken country, but also the competing agendas of their respective agencies. Personal convictions clash with institutional demands as they witness the human cost of their decisions. The story reveals how individual compassion and bureaucratic machinery intersect in the field, where every choice carries life-and-death consequences for the Cambodian people they came to help.
Genres: 20th-century, 21st-century, activism
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: bureaucracy, competing-agendas, personal-convictions
Setting: Cambodia
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
489 pages · Paperback · Simon & Schuster