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International Women’s Day: Meera Shah

Cultural event organizer
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Meera Shah

For International Women’s Day, we talked with some amazing women around the Cariboo Chilcotin. There are enough incredible women in this community to fill several books, but please read on for International Women’s Day series on just a few of them.

Meera Shah is passionate about cultural arts and human rights, and combines them in her work in Williams Lake.

Relatively new to the Cariboo, Shah is from the Sunshine Coast and has a background in cultural arts and performance from a South Asian tradition, is a trained Indian Dancer and a freelance graphic designer. She also says she has a strong background in human rights work, feminism, anti-racism, and just graduated from a program on aboriginal focused oriented therapy and complex trauma.

Her main interest right now, she says, is developing community theatre with youth — particularly marginalized youth — in Williams Lake.

Read more: International Women’s Day: Fabiola Faubert

Since her arrival in Williams Lake, Shah has been organizing cultural events for the community, most recently a three day Art Love Youth event for youth of colour and indigenous youth.

She plans on launching a new theatre company come spring break, called Karibu Dreams.

“My place of birth is Kenya, in East Africa, so my first language that I would hear is Swahili. The word Karibu in Swahili means welcome, and it’s just a nice fit with living in the Cariboo and connecting with many cultures,” she says.

“I feel really welcomed to the Cariboo by the Secwepemc people.”

She says she was invited to live in the community by a friend who is First Nations.

“I have been extremely welcomed, so that is why I have chosen that name for my company.”

Read more: International Women’s Day: Ashlee Hyde

She’s partnering with Fabiola Faubert to combine the theatre company with dance.

Her first performance will be called Sakuntala, a classic Indian folk tale that she plans on casting with local youth this spring to perform in the fall.

“These kids haven’t done much in the way of drama and it is going to be learning about Indian culture too, in a way that has never been presented in the Cariboo as far as I know, because there is a great deal of diversity.”

Multiculturalism is incredibly important to Shah.

“I think it is key to open up the warmth in our heart for each other,” she says.

“It’s a time for healing and learning about each other and by sharing cultural events in a respectful way authentically.”

Read more: International Women’s Day: Sonya Littlejohn