Bangkok Free Ambulance

Sleeping with the Dead (Published Sep’ 2009) Thai version due 2010

Today, I raced through the streets of Bangkok in my rescue vehicle, I extracted an injured man from a truck at the port, and then took him to hospital. Shortly afterward in another area, I donned a fire suit and breathing apparatus and walked into a flaming building looking for trapped people, and ended up rescuing a fellow firefighter and friend who had fallen. Later in the day, I went to a house to collect a dead body and took it to the local morgue. I will do the same all night, accepting the risks that are ever-present in emergency situations. I’ll also expose myself to the added risks that go with doing this kind of work in Bangkok — the risk of getting attacked by street dogs, arguing with drunks, arguing with arrogant and ignorant policemen and nurses, the risk of being struck by unconcerned and aggressive motorists at every accident I attend, or even shot at by a rival ambulance.

This is a normal day for me in Bangkok, Thailand, and has been for the last nine years. I’m not well paid for it. In fact, I’m not paid at all.

My name is Marko Cunningham, and I am a volunteer for a Thai Rescue Foundation, a non-governmental organisation better known as ‘The Bodysnatchers of Bangkok.’ I do what I do for the love of it, and have done for the last nine years.

Why do I do it? Well, I’m the only farang (Westerner) who does what I do, and not many people can say that of their calling. I appreciate the opportunity to show to the Thai people that farang aren’t all just sex tourists and millionaires. I also enjoy being in the unique position of being able to represent the work of the thousands of volunteers in organisations like my own who risk their lives on a daily basis to save others. And let’s not deny it: I love the thrill of the work itself. To give with love, as the Dalai Lama once said to me, is the greatest of human actions. And how much greater when the gift you are giving is the gift of a stranger’s own life?

How did I get into all this? It’s a long story, and the story of a spiritual journey as much as a journey through space and time.

This book is not just the story of the life that brought me here. It also takes a look at a side of Thailand that foreigners — and many Thais, for that matter — rarely or never get to know about. Most would prefer not to know about the underworld of death and disaster beneath life in Bangkok.

In NZ bookstores 18th September 2009 (Random House Publishing)

Available for purchase on line at: www.fishpond.co.nz You can use the photos on this site as you read along.

Now available on E-Books at Whitcoulls

Now working on a new book….

Asa  Samat (The story of volunteers lives and the sacrifices they make for others – Thai language only)

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