W****hat it’s really like on the frontline of humanitarian aidIt's the early 1990s and three young people are looking to change their lives, and perhaps also the world. Attracted to the ambitious global peacekeeping work of the UN, Andrew, Ken and Heidi's paths cross in Cambodia, from where their fates are to become inextricably bound. Over the coming years, their stories interweave through countries such as Rwanda, Bosnia, Somalia and Haiti - war-torn, lawless pla...

Damien Brown, a young Australian doctor, thinks he's ready when he arrives for his first posting with Medecins Sans Frontieres in Africa. But the town he's sent to is an isolated outpost of mud huts, surrounded by landmines; the hospital, for which he's to be the only doctor, is filled with malnourished children and conditions he's never seen; and the health workers - Angolan war veterans twice his age and who speak no English - walk out on him following an altercation on his firs...

The inspiring true story of David Nyuol Vincent, a Sudanese refugee who survived famine, wars and 17 years in refugee camps to build a new life in Australia.David Nyuol Vincent was a little boy when he fled southern Sudan with his father, as war raged in their country. He left behind his distraught mother and sisters, his village and his childhood.For months David and his father walked across southern Sudan, barefoot, desperately searching for safety, food ...

This is the true story of two twenty-year old Australians who travelled for fourteen months on recumbent bicycles from Russia, across Siberia and Mongolia, to Beijing. It is as much a story of perseverance, passion, and belief as it is about the people and remarkable landscapes of Siberia and Mongolia. Tim and Chris are not just fearless adventurers but philosophers on wheels, willing and able to open themselves up to everything from the voice of the Steppes to the Russian villagers and th...

One man's phenomenal tale of escaping a death sentence in Iraq, surviving the Australian Refugee system and becoming a pioneering surgeon at the forefront of Orthopaedic medicine.In 1999, Munjed Al Muderis was a young surgical resident working in Baghdad when a squad of Military Police marched into the operating theatre and ordered the surgical team to mutilate the ears of three busloads of army deserters. When the head of surgery refused, he was executed in front ...

A foreign correspondent's memoir like no other ...Zoe Daniel is the ABC's fifteenth South East Asia Correspondent, and one of only a handful of women to combine one of the most dangerous jobs in the world with one of the most demanding - motherhood.From the political unrest in Bangkok and the bittersweet story of conjoined twins in India, to a tragic plane crash in Laos and the destruction of typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, Storyteller is a frank and brave memoir, as much about t...

In the tradition of Wild and Tracks, one woman's story of how she left the city and found her soul.Disillusioned and burnt out by her job, Claire Dunn quits a comfortable life to spend a year off the grid in a wilderness survival program. Her new forest home swings between ally and enemy as reality – and the rain – sets in.Claire's adventure unfolds over four seasons and in the essential order of survival: shelter, water, fire and food. Sh...

The relationship between man and horse on the Eurasian steppe gave rise to a succession of rich nomadic cultures. Among them were the Mongols of the thirteenth century – a small tribe, which, under the charismatic leadership of Genghis Khan, created the largest contiguous land empire in history. Inspired by the extraordinary life nomads still lead today, Tim Cope embarked on a journey that hadn't been successfully completed since those times: to travel on horseback across the entire length...

Two old school friends reconnect unexpectedly after thirty-five years and discover that they both love travelling - and the more exotic and far-flung the location, the better! Not having a clue whether they will get along, the eccentric pair embark on a trial journey to Morocco. That tentative beginning has turned into a series of wonderfully unusual holidays, and Hil and Liz have been circumnavigating the globe ever since.Among many other destinations, they have taken in Marrakech...

A young girl who is abducted and abandoned in the Colombian jungle. She spends five years living with a family of monkeys before being found and sold in to slavery. This is her truly astonishing story.'It all happened so quickly. One minute I was squatting on the bare earth, preoccupied with popping pea pods. The next, I saw the flash of a black hand and white cloth, and before I even had a chance to cry out it had sailed towards my face, and completely covered...

When Nikki Stern left suburban Melbourne for Europe in the early 1980s, little did she know that her life was about to change dramatically.Adopted into a well-connected family and educated at an exclusive school, she fell instantly and hopelessly in love with a charming and charismatic cartoonist in Amsterdam. Paul and Nikki embarked on a passionate love affair, enjoying the hedonistic days of the 80s before eloping and returning to Australia.But soon Nikki found herself in...

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a student visa must be in want of an Australian wife.Twenty-eight-year old Esma has a masters in human resource management, never orders just a salad, is well-travelled, has excellent taste in music, watches the ABC news, has the Guardian saved as an app on her iPhone, knows all the two-letter words in Scrabble and can tell the difference between a Ford and a Holden. Armed with a check-list, she's on the hunt...