SAFA - South Asian Family Association
Chatting with Suki Grewal

The SAFA organization started almost 5 years ago by Suki Grewal, her husband Ajit and a few close friends. With all the negative attention on South Asians in the media, SAFA wanted to provide the younger generation with a positive platform to learn about their South Asian roots through arts and culture. They believed the various initiatives provided by SAFA could assist with leading the children down a positive path and promote cultural harmony and empowerment. "We're not trying to fix problems completely; we are simply trying to empower our children to make the right decisions", says Suki. In support of this, SAFA organizes youth drop-in hours at Moberly Arts and Cultural Centre in Vancouver throughout the year and a Youth Camp for 6 weeks throughout the summer.

Suki reminisces on how both she and Ajit always encouraged their children to volunteer and help them out with various SAFA events and fundraisers. She believes this encouragement and involvement with SAFA played a huge role in her children making good life decisions, pursuing post-secondary education and eventually becoming professionals.

Aside from being a devoted mother and wife, Suki has always had a passion for helping the community. With many accredited Nursing qualifications under her belt, Suki has been instrumental in leading many proactive projects to build awareness within South Asian households on topics such as breast cancer and cervical health. Through SAFA, she continuously supports Health Fairs that educate the community on pressing health issues and provides guidance on how to cope/overcome. In recognition of all her efforts in the community, the City of Vancouver acknowledged Suki with a "2006 Cultural Harmony Award".

One of SAFA's key events for the family to enjoy is Sawan Mela. With a mixture of entertainment, vendors and fun activities for the children, this is definitely an annual event to look forward to! Other fun SAFA events are the annual Diwali dinner/dance and the New Years Gala. SAFA specifically focus their efforts on raising money for youth scholarships through each of these events. All of this would not be possible without the strong SAFA team which consists of volunteers who passionately share Suki's vision.

For more information on SAFA and the upcoming Sawan Mela, please visit www.safa.ca