Tamara Stratton must have impeccable time management. There’s no way the 23-year-old University of Canterbury graduate could have achieved the volume of work, study and volunteering she has without it. In high school, she juggled a long list of extracurriculars, from youth ambassador for Save the Children to a leadership role with Students Against Drunk Driving.
At university, a part-time tutoring role with Inspiration Education evolved into a regional manager position, where Tamara established a free tutoring programme for deserving local schools. Then there’s the art gallery volunteer work, a half marathon for charity, and first aid experience. It’s an expansive list of endeavours that all seem to feature an altruistic undercurrent. “I guess,” shrugs Tamara. “It’s just always been important to me to be doing something to give back.”
READ MORE:
* Part one: Depth of focus
* Part two: Front of mind
* Part three: Advocating for climate justice
* Part four: Telling jokes about the weather
Raised in Whanganui, Tamara is fresh out of a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours), majoring in chemical and process engineering. The course focused on turning raw materials into marketable products. It was more profit-driven than Tamara had bargained for, so she offset the degree’s economic focus with a supplementary diploma in global humanitarian engineering. “I’ve always known I wanted to head in the direction of humanitarian or aid work,” she explains. “So, the diploma allowed me to focus on that community scale and apply those skills in the field rather than a commercial setting.”
In 2021, the engineering student found the ideal outlet for both courses when EcoCare popped up on Facebook. The non-profit is a registered charitable trust that supports developing nations’ health, education and environmental wellbeing. Reaching out to the organisation, she was impressed by its work and management. “EcoCare is so focused on getting that money to the right people,” Tamara explains. “It made me aware that in the bigger NGOs, not all of the funding is going to the people that need it on the ground.” The young engineer was soon put to work on the trust’s Clean Water Programme, which aims to provide water-filtration systems to schools and hospitals across Tonga. In a country where safe drinking water isn’t always available, the programme can be a lifesaver – particularly in low-lying areas like the islands of Ha’apai, where major storms can contaminate the groundwater, resulting in outbreaks of waterborne diseases like typhoid.
After working behind the scenes for some time, Tamara travelled to Tonga with a group of fellow students last year to install three of these filtration systems in local schools. Speaking ahead of the trip, she said, “I’ve been tasked with focusing on the water-testing element and completing a lot of sampling, so we have an idea of the current water conditions and potential for future projects. But it’s also a chance to build up my practical skills – be hands-on, on the ground.” As with every EcoCare initiative, there was an element of education, and the volunteers ran workshops to teach locals how to monitor and maintain the new systems. Safe to say that Tamara’s years of tutoring came in handy.
Balancing this meaningful work alongside her degree and diploma, you have to ask how Tamara found time for fun. Easily, it would seem. Last year, she began to explore the world of rogaining (a kind of long-distance orienteering), played her tenor horn in a provincial music competition, continued to pursue her love of hiking and ticked off a few classic novels, including Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.
This year, Tamara has taken up a graduate role in the water resources team at WSP, a global environmental consulting company. It’s a full-time position, but she has no intention of abandoning her work at EcoCare. In fact, Tamara is already thinking about other avenues to give back. “I will hopefully be volunteering in some capacity with Tierra Grata, which implements engineering solutions in South America,” she says. “It looks like I’ll be volunteering online due to the location difference, although it will be motivation to practise my Spanish in case the opportunity arises to join a project in the field at some point.”
Looking to the future, Tamara is refreshingly relaxed, happy to follow the opportunities when they arise and go where she’s needed. Hopefully, that will mean more travel and a hands-on approach. “Office work has never been appealing to me,” she says. “I’d like to see humanitarian engineering grow, and be on the ground, leading projects with positive change but also building up the next generation.”
