THE HEART OF A VOLUNTEER:

HOW TO SAVE LIVES AGAINST ALL

ODDS
By Vientiane Rescue
2016 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee
Delivered by
Sebastian Perret
Founder, Vientiane Rescue
Presented at the 58th Ramon Magsaysay Awards Lecture Series
1 September 2016, Manila, Philippines

Vientiane Rescue: The beginnings of the organization

Vientiane Rescue (VR) started in 2010, with a handful of volunteers
from a local foundation called Foundation for Assisting Poor People of
Lao PDR, most of them very young and in their teens.
There were seven to eight people who came together and formed
Vientiane Rescue. There were two adults (a Laotian and a Frenchman
living in Laos), and five or six fifteen-year old kids. What we had then
was a lot of hope and expectations, and just pure wholehearted
enthusiasm to do something for others, with nothing else. In Vientiane,
Laos, the victims of road traffic accident were neglected and many are
left dying on the side of the road. The need for rescue services was

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

already huge at that time. We couldnt afford not to respond. And we

cannot afford to wait and waste time waiting for others to do the work.
In 2010, when this group came together, it was also the time that the
Foundation received a donation: a brand new ambulance. Usually the
foundation does not ask for any support or donation. But that specific
circumstance of a random donation to the foundation was very timely
and welcome gesture. We decided to immediately start a 24/7 FREE
ambulance service in September 2010. We were the first to set-up rescue
services. With that one ambulance, we could say that Vientiane Rescue
was born! In other western or developed countries, starting a rescue
service without basic resources like gasoline, rescue equipment, enough
funds and sponsorships, and the right skills would have been called a
suicide. But VR did what it had to do and responded to the urgent
emergency needs of the Lao peopleby sheer perseverance and passion
to help.
The Challenges
The first years were extremely difficult. And it was crazy. At the start,
we always arrived in the place of the accident too late. And since we are
undermanned, under trained and under equipped, our emergency rescue
service is limited to providing ambulance service because that is the only
one we got at that time. Nobody but the police knew our emergency
number. But we had to cope with our own means. We tried to get help
from private companies, NGOs, United Nation agencies and European
commission operating in Laos. But support from these groups came in
trickles. Maybe because they think we are not professionals and that we
are just a rag-tag team, and therefore they either make fun of us or do
not take us seriously. Thankfully, we found one supporter, a familyowned petroleum company who is very eager to support us. But apart

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

from this, there was no one else.. But for us in VR, it was enough to
move forward.
At that time, so many lives were lost due to road accidents left
unattended. So many times, our one and only ambulance was filled with
three or four seriously injured victims because we were the only ones in
Vientiane responding to rescue, the only ones available and willing to
help. So many times we couldnt restrain our tears witnessing victims
dying in our hands because of the lack of specialized equipment. So
many times the ambulance was running with one volunteer alone
because the other volunteers were busy with their own work. It was
difficult to get more volunteers because our work is not simple; we deal
with lives at risk and sometimes when death comes to the victims, we
are filled with sadness. Who would like to join such a service, under
such conditions?
In January 2012, a major setback occurred. Our unique ambulance is
taken away from VR and was taken over by an NGO. We were all left in
total dismay. It is like cutting off our legs. And no one was doing rescue.
People died on the roadside just like how it was used to be before VR
came in. Nobody was doing rescue and saving lives again. Little by
little, our volunteers began to leave VR. Everything weve built and
fought for had been destroyed.
After a whole year, in January 2013, we finally managed to collect
$6,000 USD thanks to a Foundation called EXO. With this money, we
bought an old van that we transformed into a beautiful ambulance in just
three months. Vientiane Rescue was reborn from the ashes! Today, VR
has a one-truck firefighting unit, a one-boat scuba rescue team, and with
close to 200 uniformed volunteers.

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

The VR Volunteers
But VR was able to get a few good men and women. After a whole year
of operations, we managed to have a group of twenty-five volunteers.
That was not much vis--vis the number of accidents and victims who
need to be rescued. The VR volunteers were and still are the best
people I ever met in my life. They are devoted to the service, fully
committed and having so much passion deep in their hearts.
VR didnt create a rescue team: we built a family. The volunteers came
on duty with their wives and kids, offering their own pocket money to
fill the gas tank of the ambulance when needed, giving so much of their
time and energy to maintain our vehicle on the road. Recruiting more
volunteers helped us to grow, little by little. We started to get equipment,
training, and sponsorship for the petrol. After spending a lot of time
learning medical Lao vocabulary, I started teaching the team more
advanced first aid technics.
If we didnt have much hope or expectation at the very beginning, the
bubble of generosity that we created in Vientiane around this ambulance
started to make us believe that everything was possible.
We do not make miracles everyday, but sometimes we do, and that is
amazing!

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation