Sheroes’ Hangout in Agra offers a place for acid attack survivors to earn money and find acceptance.
Madhu Kashyap, who survived an acid attack more than 20 years ago, works at Sheroes’ Hangout in Agra, India. ore than 20 years ago, a man hurled acid into Madhu Kashyap’s face. It melted the skin on her cheeks and forehead and partially blinded her in one eye.
The perpetrators are often men who want to punish women for ending a relationship or spurning unwanted advances. Most attackers’ aim, experts say, is not to kill, but to maim and embarrass.At Sheroes, survivors don’t cover their faces. They comfortably discuss the scariest moments of their lives and chat with customers from around the world. They wear makeup to accentuate their features. They laugh.Rage flashes in Kashyap’s eyes as she recalls her attack.
Sheroes’ Hangout launched in 2014, the brainchild of an activist group fighting for harsher punishments for attackers and more regulations on the sale of acid. As the group got to know more and more survivors, Dixit said, it became clear that the women faced long-term economic and psychological hardships. So the group focused on a project to ease their burdens. It raised more than $10,000 online and the cafe was born.
The cafe’s bright colors, including the blue and yellow Sheroes sign above the door, had drawn in the 18-year-old Coloradan. It looked, he said, like the kind of place he would like.Sheroes’ Hangout, marked by the blue sign, center, is two miles from the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. A second cafe operates in Lucknow, about 180 miles to the east.When the cafe opened its doors, none of the staff knew how to run a restaurant, Dixit said.
India has one of the highest rates of acid attacks, along with neighboring Bangladesh and Pakistan. Though some victims are men, the vast majority of those attacked are women. That makes the pride on display at Sheroes particularly powerful, said Jaf Shah, executive director of the London-based nonprofit Acid Survivors Trust International.
She launched another complaint last year, because she wants him to be punished, she said, her voice growing louder.Behind the story: Learning the tales and triumphs of acid attack survivors » Even today, acid attacks are more common in places where the potent chemicals — hydrochloric, nitric and sulfuric acid — are easily available, such as near factories, he said.
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