HELLO JI!

A WORD (OR TWO HUNDRED) FROM THE EDITOR

Rewind to the last Grant’s Desi Achievers Awards Gala…a great time was had by all! This year’s awards gala, initially scheduled for August 29 at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga, has now been postponed in view of the coronavirus restrictions. Image credit: NARI MAVALWALLA.

On August 29, we were to have welcomed new inductees to the Desi Hall of Fame at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga, but the restrictions on large gatherings meant plans for the Grant’s Desi Achievers Awards gala were put on hold. While we wait to celebrate their achievements with a group of other high achievers and the Who’s Who of the community, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank them for all the phenomenal work they do in diverse fields.

Grant’s Desi Achievers find their life’s purpose in helping others. They eschew the well-trodden path to strike out on their own.

As Gurrinderpal Pannu, co-founder of Conquercovid-19, said, “Sometimes, our communities are in the news for the wrong reasons, but this was one way of showing the good we can do together. Hockey legend Hayley Wickenheiser said, ‘These are good Canadians getting good things done’.”  Getting good things done, and how.

We have Dr Vandana Sharma, a global health researcher, who is working to reduce maternal mortality in northern Nigeria and to reduce HIV transmission and intimate partner violence (IPV) in Ethiopia in Somali refugee camps. “It is such a huge problem and affects every country, but it is an almost invisible problem because it happens behind closed doors,” she says. “Globally, one in three women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner during their lifetime.”

Seema David and her team of volunteers at 5n2 Kitchens feed over a thousand people each week, supplying to after-school programs, crisis intervention centres, seniors’ associations and community organizations that serve people with mental health issues or addictions. “I can’t turn back from this work, it’s a commitment, a calling,” she says.

Ali Kazimi’s documentaries explore what power is and how it impacts our lives. “There is more visibility, more access for people of colour, but the struggle to be noticed continues. Unless the decision-making significantly changes to reflect the demographics of 2020, the struggle to have your issues taken seriously and not dismissed as ‘other’ issues will continue. You have to have diversity in positions of power.”

Richa Gupta left a cushy job at a multinational company to launch her own business, propelled by a powerful desire to make a difference. She makes healthy, nutritious sauces that are not loaded with sugars. If that weren’t good enough, she donates a meal for every bottle sold. Her goal is to serve one million meals by the end of 2020. “We can’t change the lives of everyone, but even if we can help a few and they can help others who in turn help a few more... together we can work towards breaking the cycle of poverty. We can be a force for good.”

We were unable to meet in person due to coronavirus restrictions, but I caught up with a few other Grant’s Desi Achievers over the phone and we talked about life during and, hopefully, after COVID-19. And that’s our cover story this month.

Here’s wishing our readers in India a very happy Independence Day!

Shagorika Easwar