Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures)

It''s the early 1990s and three young people, working for the UN and Red Cross in Cambodia, become friends in the heady atmosphere of the country''s first democratic elections. All of them have been attracted to peacekeeping, in countries both dangerous and alluring, for different reasons. Heidi Postlewait is a social worker in need of a challenge and a pay cheque, Kenneth Cain is fresh from Harvard and brimful of idealism, and Andrew Thomson strives for a better world through his live saving work as a doctor. As the Cold War ends and the New World Order dawns, the three become friends for life.

But their journey through a violent decade, from Rwanda and Bosnia to Somalia and Haiti, challenges their lives and personalities, leaving them utterly changed - both broken and enriched.

In this powerful, devastatingly honest memoir, Andrew, Heidi and Ken mingle their distinct voices to paint a searing portrait of life amidst war and genocide, whilst giving eye-witness accounts of the thousands of lives that have been destroyed in countries such as Rwanda by the inactivity and greed of the West.

Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures) is a startling celebration of the gritty strength of human spirit. By day they work in brutal war-zones, by night they stave off fear and futility with revelry, sex and the bleakest of humour. Sometimes only friendship can save you...

"A powerful testament of the limits of peacekeeping in today''s war zones - acutely observed, and told with astonishing immediacy" - Philip Gourevitch