ABSTRACT
In 1978 and 1979 the numbers of “boat people” leaving Vietnam soared. Many of them arrived on the shores of Malaysia and Southern Thailand, where they were taken to camps set up with the assistance of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). UNHCR scrambled to recruit field officers to serve in the seaside towns where these camps were established. Most were young European or North American graduates, with limited experience in humanitarian work. The field officers were involved alongside the local officials in Malaysia and Thailand in every aspect of the work to assist these refugees. They monitored the construction of camps, the arrival of food and other supplies, helped the refugees with their applications for resettlement in the West, and tried to deal with the consequences of the piracy which many boat loads of refugees had suffered.
