Emily Isham is a doctor, currently working and living in Tasmania, Australia, with her husband Seth, and 2-year-old daughter Lucy. She grew up in Bukavu, the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire), the daughter of missionary parents, for nearly 10 years. Leaving Congo in 1996 (mostly due to the ongoing civil war and associated violence), Emily struggled immensely with ‘deserting’ her Congolese friends, and, after witnessing war-related atrocities and the poor health care available to local Congolese and refugees, vowed to return as a doctor one day.

Having maintained contact with many Congolese friends through her university years, Emily became more aware of the enormous difficulties they faced to even just complete high school and study at a tertiary level – as a result of ongoing education department strikes, evacuations and financial pressures. This was in stark contrast to being able to easily study medicine with many other students at The University of Melbourne, while the government provides a loan to cover university fees.