Pre-Owned Where Soldiers Fear to Tread: At Work in the Fields of Anarchy (Paperback) 0099464993 9780099464990

There is going to be a shooting here and it is a toss-up who is going to get the boy s first round. The soldier about ten years old is jamming the barrel of his gun hard against my driver s face and unless the kid decides to go for me the relief worker my driver is going to get his head blown off. Where Soldiers Fear to Tread John Burnett survived this ordeal and others during his service as a relief worker in Somalia. But many did not. In this gripping firsthand account Burnett shares his experiences during the flood relief operations of 1997 to 1998. Ravaged by monsoons starvation and feuding warlords Somalia continues to be one of the most dangerous places on earth. Both a personal story and a broader tale of war the politics of aid and the horrifying reality of child-soldiers his chronicle represents the astonishing challenges faced by humanitarian workers across the globe. There are currently thousands of civilian workers serving in over one hundred nations. Today they are as likely to be killed in the line of duty as are trained soldiers. In the past five years alone more UN aid workers have been killed than peacekeepers. When Burnett joined the World Food Program he was told their mission would be safe their help welcomed-and they would be pulled out if bullets started to fly. When he arrived in Somalia Burnett found a nation rent by a decade of anarchy a people wary of foreign intervention and a discomfiting uncertainty that the UN would remember he d been sent there at all. From Burnett s young Somali driver to the armed civilians warlords and colleagues he would never see again this unforgettable memoir delves into the complexity of humanitarian missions and the wonder of everyday people who risk their lives to help others in places too dangerous to send soldiers. Where Soldiers Fear to Tread is a rousing adventure story and a troubling morality tale....If you ve ever sent 20 bucks off to a relief organization you owe it to yourself to read this book. --Michael Maren author of The Road to Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International Charity