The 2015 Rotary Club of Berrima District Tara.Ed Ambassador is Rotaractor Kahli Dawkings from the University of Queensland and the Provisional Rotaract Club of North Lakes.
Tara.Ed is an NGO that promotes quality education in rural and remote areas of India and Bangladesh through teacher training and capacity building. Since 2009, Tara.Ed has impacted 23 schools and trained over 300 teachers; lifting more than 8000 children out of poverty.
The Rotary Club of Berrima District is a founding partner of Tara.Ed, and provides an annual Ambassadorship to the value of 2000 to allow an exceptional Australian teacher to travel to India to contribute to Tara.Ed projects.
Kahli is in her final year of a double Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Education, and hopes to graduate as a Geography/French teacher in November 2015.
Kahli believes that “Education unlocks the door to many opportunities, but teachers are the key…As a teacher, one must strive to give every individual student, regardless of their ability, background or characteristics as a learner, a chance to access and engage with a holistic and enriching education.”
She applied for the Tara.Ed Teacher Tour both to contribute to the development of under-privileged schools in India, as well as develop her skills as a teacher, so she can return to Australia to work in the Indigenous Education space.
As a member of the Provisional Rotaract Club of North Lakes (RID 9600), Kahli has been actively involved in Rotary since 2009, where she travelled to France as a Rotary Youth Exchange student.
Since her return from exchange, Kahli has volunteered as a committee member of the District 9640 Rotary Youth Program Of Enrichment, a youth camp which aims to build the confidence, communication, teamwork and leadership skills of 14-16 year olds.
As an indigenous person, and a future educator, Kahli is passionate about improving the educational outcomes of Indigenous Australians and has been extensively involved in school-based indigenous programs such as ARTIE Tutoring, Indigenous Pathways programs and Indigenous homework club.
She currently holds the Brisbane Catholic Education’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Pre-Service Teacher Scholarship, and as such will be working in one of this diocese’s schools following her graduation.
