For Isaiah Dawe, helping Aboriginal children in foster care or the juvenile justice system to secure a happy and successful life is the most important thing he can do.
Inspired by his Aboriginal background and his own childhood experiences, Isaiah founded a non-profit organisation, ID. Know Yourself.
ID. Know Yourself provides support through its Mentoring Program to young Aboriginal people aged 5 to 19.
It teaches life skills about health and cooking, supports education, and helps young people understand their part in a broader culture, introducing them to mentors and yarn tellers who provide guidance on life’s challenges.
Through this organisation Isaiah has set about providing support to disadvantaged Aboriginal children. It’s his life’s mission. There are, he says, approximately 20,000 Aboriginal children he need extra care and he wants to help every one of them.
As someone who experienced fostering himself–17 foster homes all up to the age of 18–Isaiah knows what he’s talking about when it comes to the need to nurture children who need it.
His aim is to break the cycle of intergenerational trauma and disadvantage for Aboriginal children and his organisation is making a difference to thousands of children in need, providing mentors, advice and healing.
One big influence on his life was a role model he met when he was a child whose example as a hardworking man was powerful; he was an elder of an Aboriginal community in Yass who had been an inspiration to many, someone who had clearly made a difference and was widely respected.
That experience gave Isaiah an inkling of what he could be doing with his life: helping others.
Before he found his vocation working at ID. Know Yourself, Isaiah had many jobs and achieved success. He felt the pushed to overcome challenges, yet did not feel a strong pull into something. He needed more meaning or fulfilment as motivation, rather than just “success”. That became his “pull”–a sense of purpose.
He’d tried several types of job, such as a tree lopper, retail, worked in corporate for Lend Lease and the AFL and had even considered joining the NSW Police after finishing TAFE. But the pull of his vision of supporting Aboriginal children eventually won out, despite the challenges of starting a non-profit.
One of those challenges was that, to start with, he didn’t know much about business. As a believer in the power of perseverance to make us stronger by overcoming fear and challenges, Isaiah pushed and pushed his idea, asking for support. He faced rejections but never gave up on his vision. Thought and imagination about what is possible helped him continue.
He was out of his comfort zone every day. But he was sustained by his belief that, if you know your “why”, then you can do any “how”. Luck didn’t play a role, just hard work and sacrifice. And the desire to overcome fear of failure.
When you’re starting out just try something. Give it a shot. Use trial and error. Get out of your comfort zone. We all have gifts. When we find them, they can create meaning and passion.
Isaiah himself didn’t know what he wanted to do. But by experimenting and trying he found something satisfying. In the end, it’s not what you know but what you do.