18th June, 2005

SALLY HOLT

Originally, Summer Williams wanted to be a vet.

Growing up in the rolling hills of Gippsland in Victoria, where horse-riding and animals are part of every country kid’s life, she considered a veterinary career would be “very convenient” for her planned menagerie of horses, cows, dogs, cats, chameleons and exotic birds.

But the notion was challenged during her final years at Sale High School when both her mother and younger sister were hospitalised with an acute illness. Furthermore, the youngest of her four siblings was born with Down Syndrome and required numerous hospital visits.

“I guess you could say that we, as a family, got to experience both the excellent and less palatable parts of the health spectrum. I was challenged to be an answer to that – to be the kind of doctor who could help…listen…and relate to real life for the average Australian.”

Encouraged by her teachers to “set her sights high”, she realigned her focus and applied for a medical degree at Melbourne’s Monash University.

Eight years on, Dr Summer Williams - now 26 - is an intern with the Ballarat Health Services and, after several ‘working holidays’ in developing countries, is planning to specialise in obstetrics and gynaecology.

“That will probably mean at least another two years as a HMO (hospital medical officer), then another five or six years of speciality training at hospitals around Victoria,” she explains. “Ideally I’d like to just jump the ‘time warp’ and come out qualified and all ‘skilled-up’ to go overseas again, but for the moment, I’m meant to be here in Australia.”

Dr Williams has punctuated her medical studies with three overseas visits and says that a quirky movie (The Gods Must be Crazy) planted a seed in her nine-year-mind about cross-cultural work.

“(That seed) was left to grow roots in my heart…God also created me with a particular bent for awkward places - sleeping on the floor, living in trees, communicating with charades, and loving ingenuity. However it wasn’t until 1999, shortly after becoming a Christian, that I felt challenged to defer my studies, get a perspective on life, and take a break from the intense world of ‘medicine’ by volunteering for an NGO called Youth Challenge Australia.”

Costa Rica
With a new faith, and a passion for exploring developing countries, the 19-year-old medical student headed or Costa Rica for what she thought was going to be a cataract-surgery project. But not surprisingly, “God had other plans”, she says.

Instead she spent time with a team of 14 Costa Ricans, Canadians and Australians on a UN-sponsored environmental project.

“I spent days learning 'Espanol' from the (local) kids - learning to rise at 4am to the sound of wild pigs, then hauling (bags of) gravel on my back to be covered in sweat, mud and mosquitoes.”

Yet while she imagined her role might be as a “witness to the locals”, in reality she felt that many times she was “an imperfect example of a perfect God for my Western team”, who were largely non-believers.

Despite working in the often difficult conditions of a developing county, Dr Williams says one of her greatest joys came from attending a tiny, but sincere, evangelical community church.

“I also spent one month with a Christian paediatrician in Mexico learning about health care and the challenges of working with the poor…he and an elderly couple warmly opened their homes so I could live and work amongst them. They treated me as a relative. I sorely missed the team I’d just left in Costa Rica, but God used this solo-time to develop my dependence on Him, and reminded me that He is all I need in any situation.”

Bangladesh
Returning to the Western world of medicine, Dr Williams found that by the fifth year of her degree, she was both restless and slightly disillusioned.

“'Med' is tough - the competitiveness tougher, and the lack of faith (in anything other than yourself) the toughest for a new Christian,” she explains.

It was after attending the Belgrave Heights Easter Convention in Victoria that Dr Williams was challenged to “accept the call to ‘go’ - wherever, whenever”. She was immediately drawn to global-missions.

“I basically said to God, ‘Okay - you have me - I’ll give you this year…do what you will…I’m yours’.”

Before the year ended she walked into a young women’s ministry role with ‘Youth For Christ’ and waited - patiently - for an overseas short-term mission assignment with Christian mission organisation Interserve.

While she admits having no natural inclination to go to the sub-continent, her willingness to serve God soon brought about an endearment for the country of Bangladesh.

Spending six months on a medical research project, Dr Williams worked in both schools and hospitals and she recalls being shocked at medical facilities in the developing world, coming home profoundly affected.

“I could not see medicine the same way. I could not see life the same way…I resolutely went into my final year of medicine determined to remember those I’d left behind…”.

Indonesia
In order to graduate from her degree, Dr Williams had to undertake a five week elective.

“Most travel to exotic places…I decided to travel to Halmahera in Indonesia (with Christian aid group Bless Indonesia Today) where my role was to support and participate in the health clinics in remote communities,” she says.

“The days were long, and the queues of patients seemingly-endless. Sometimes I felt out of my depth…my ‘almost’ medical degree made me a consultant which carried a heavy weight of responsibility. I was brought, daily, to begging for wisdom from above.”

Dr Williams plans to return to Indonesia in September-October and rejoin the medical team for a two-week stint, while in early 2006, she hopes to visit the obstetrics and gynaecology ward in Bangladesh for a short reunion.

While her long-term plans are still evolving, Dr Williams is passionate about ‘eternal goals’.

“I’ve been encouraged to mobilise other Christians ‘to go!’. This is an ongoing challenge…to awaken the Christian ‘haves’, to share with the ‘have-nots’, and to see the urgency of it. Sometimes you must witness this first-hand. Smell the stench of death….see the frail look of ‘lostness’ in someone’s eyes, or to feel utterly incapable…to know without doubt, that (Jesus) is whom the world needs to save us from our mess.”