Café offers hope to acid survivors
At Sheroes café, five acid attack survivors — including Ritu, 22 — are reclaiming their lives.
For 22 years, Gita Mahau has avoided people. With her face and arms disfigured by acid burns, the last thing she wanted was to meet staring people, least of all strangers.
But that is what Mahau, 50, is doing in her new job at a café in Agra, close to the Taj Mahal, where she manages the kitchen.
“I can’t believe I am leading a normal life, like other people, here in this place, where I feel safe and where I’m not treated like a freak,” says Mahau, who had acid thrown on her by her husband.
The café is the brainchild of an NGO called Stop Acid Attacks, which concluded that the men who throw acid on women first destroy their faces and lives, and then force them to endure social death.
“People tend to see survivors as victims, as finished, with no hope,” says Hardika Sharma, a co-ordinator with the group. “But we realized that they have dreams, that they want to be like everyone else.”
Five survivors run the café, which is called Sheroes. It includes a library of feminist books and a corner for handicrafts and clothing made by survivors.
Mahau’s agony began when she was lying in bed during a visit to her mother’s home. Her two daughters were snuggled beside her. Her husband, in rage because his wife produced only daughters and no son, threw acid on them. The youngest, only 18 months old, died from her injuries. Neetu, 3, survived but with severe disfigurement and limited vision.
“This job is something I had never even dreamt of. Being here makes me feel I am not alone,” says Mahau. “Even when friends used to tell me to cover my face on going out, I used to refuse. I’m not at fault. I’m not guilty of anything so why should I cover my face?”
Acid attacks are common in India, in part because acid has been widely available for a few rupees in any grocery store.
But more and more survivors are embracing public life. It began in 2012 with Sonali Mukherjee appearing on the Indian version of the quiz show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? In front of millions of viewers, she deliberately left her face uncovered.
Another woman, Laxmi, who was attacked by a rejected suitor when she was 16, became the face of a campaign that lobbied the Supreme Court to regulate the sale of acid. She succeeded but, given the lack of law enforcement, acid remains easily available.
One of the first customers was Seema Verma, an engineer from south India who was in Agra for a wedding and heard about Sheroes.
“The café is a wonderful idea,” says Verma. “But I hope they realize you can’t run a commercial establishment as a cause. It has to offer value, be sustainable and professionally run. I think people will come, they should come.”
Mahau can’t stop smiling. “It feels good to lead a normal life and meet normal people. It’s a new beginning for us all.”