In the 2019 Backhouse Lecture, Jason MacLeod shares what he has learnt about accompanying West Papuans – and to a lesser extent Aboriginal people, Bougainvilleans and East Timorese – in their struggle for self-determination. Through personal stories, he tries to make sense of this experience in ways that might speak more broadly to Quakers. This lecture is a deeply personal reflection on what one person thinks it takes to animate freedom and accompany Indigenous peoples on a journey from empire to the ‘good life.’