Proof of Life

A student elective in the New Guinea Highlands in the mid-1970s lit a fire in Nick Williams’ belly that determined his medical career. Proof of Life tells the extraordinary story of Nick’s journey through Southern Africa during the apartheid era, the emergence of AIDS and his years as a District Medical Officer in central Australia. A young Dr Nick learned all he knew from nurses and community health workers under kerosene lamps in remote PNG and rural Africa. He embraced the ’see one, do one, teach one’ method and discovered, with the help of brilliant nurses during a 58-person truck rollover, just how far that mantra can stretch. Compelling and heart-warming stories unfold throughout this memoir. It’s a story of adventure, challenge, love, and confronting the best and the worst of people when providing medical care in the developing world. In Australia, Nick’s career is enriched by working with the world’s oldest living culture in the Northern Territory, where he continues to live his passion for working in true collaboration with nurses and health workers. During an ICRC mission in northern Pakistan, Nick confronted a world in which he could not make any difference. Polarised by feelings of frustration and terror he realised that true value is not always in outcomes but in the journey itself. Proof of Life is a captivating story of one doctor’s journey, shaped by the places he worked, the people he met, and the risks he took to pursue something greater