"If you go to the Taj Mahal, be sure to go to a nearby café and greet a few of my friends there."
Before I left for India, a friend heard about my travel plans and sent such a message. He told me that it was a special café whose operators and staff were women in India who had been disfigured by sulfuric acid.
The Taj Mahal is a must-see attraction in India, and after leaving the Taj Mahal scenic spot, I went to look for this café as promised. It is located in a small street about 500 meters away from the Taj Mahal, and after a little inquiry from the people on the street, it has successfully found the location, and it seems to be a little famous. The name of the café is "sheroes' hangout" (the residence of the heroines), and the poster at the door reads "my beauty is my smile".
A poster on the wall at the entrance of the café, "my beauty is my smile" / World Says
"Someone has to stand up"
Step into the "sheroes' hangout", which at first glance does not look much different from a normal café, with bright lights, bright and warm interiors, small round tables scattered in small spaces, books and decorations on the walls and surrounding shelves. If you look closely, you will notice that many of the souvenirs and trophies displayed on the shelves are souvenirs and trophies from various domestic and foreign events, as well as blessings and photos left by international celebrities.
"Sheroes' hangout" cafe / world said
The first lady of Germany left a blessing / said the world
It's a small part of the public attention and support the cafe has won over the past five years. Locals told me that in the past, buying sulfuric acid in India was as easy as buying water, and the use of sulfuric acid to attack others was once very popular, the victims were mostly young women, and the cause of the incident was often some small matter such as courtship or neighborhood conflict. Although the perpetrator will be punished by certain laws afterwards, the pain left on the victim is lifelong.
Over time, these victims gradually formed a considerable group, and sulfuric acid not only destroyed their appearance, but also destroyed their lives. Five years ago, the café opened as a crowdfunded project for the NGO "saa" (stop acid attacks) to provide jobs and legal and medical assistance to these victims, and to help them recover from psychological trauma and regain confidence in their lives.
Staff taniya told me that the shop currently has ten sulfuric acid victim waiters. There is another similar café in another indian city, Lucknow, and the capital Delhi is about to run a third.
Laxmi, the promoter of the "saa" group, was also a victim of a sulfuric acid attack, rejecting a marriage proposal from a 32-year-old man at the age of 15, suffering a bitter revenge by sulphuric acid, and burning most of the skin on her face and body. Although she survived, laxmi's heart was left with unhealable wounds after being disfigured, and she hid at home for eight years and did not want to go out, until eight years later, she plucked up the courage to join a non-profit organization to fight for herself and the girls she had the same experience, committed to fighting against gender-based violence.
At an event, Laxmi met her future husband, who together founded the Saa organization and crowdfunded with other victims to start the Sheroes Café project, where all the profits and donations received as a result were used to help victims of the sulphuric acid attack with rehabilitation and other assistance.
Cafe corner, staff and their kids / world said
"You want a normal life, you want a job, but there's no way, people don't even want to talk to you." In a previous interview, Laxmi had told the media, "Someone has to come forward." "She wants to help herself and countless victims who have had similar experiences to change these misfortunes."
A dream that cannot be destroyed
I didn't see laxmi, but I could see her shadow in the other girls in the café. Every member of the staff here is warm and cheerful and willing to share their stories with visiting guests, and I don't see a trace of sadness on their faces.
On the wall of the café, I read stories of girls, and the big screen in the store also played what each of them had suffered before: Saini, who was disfigured at the age of 17 because he refused his cousin's courtship. Preeti, the only child in a well-to-do family, was retaliated against by sulfuric acid at the age of 21 for refusing to propose. Dolly, at the age of 14, was attacked by sulfuric acid for rejecting a neighbor's marriage proposal...
On the walls of the café hang pictures of the girls and related artwork / World Say
The big screen in the store plays the girls' stories / the world says
Refusing to propose was not the only reason, a girl named Rupa was disfigured in her sleep when she was 12 years old, and the perpetrator was her stepmother; another girl named Shanti was 18 years old when the accident occurred, and her family had a dispute with someone else that year, and the other party wanted to teach Shanti's family a lesson, so he destroyed her with sulfuric acid...
The most infuriating thing happened to a young mother named Gota, just because she gave birth to two daughters and did not have a son, her husband threw sulfuric acid on her and both daughters at the same time after a drink, causing Gota to be seriously disfigured, the eldest daughter was blinded by sulfuric acid in the eye, and the youngest daughter died...
"The perpetrators ruined our faces with sulfuric acid, but they didn't destroy our dreams." / The world says
“perpetrators throw acid on our face but not on our dreams”
Just as gota's two daughters, killed or blind for life, are two very common outcomes after a sulphuric acid attack, the girls I met were even lucky in this sense: at least they survived.
But how to continue to live is a problem that plagues each of them. As Laxmi once experienced, after suffering great harm, many survivors do not have the confidence to go out of the house, let alone earn a living and live again. This is the purpose of "sheroes' hangout": to provide jobs for the victims while helping them find new social roles.
Every girl here has had her own dreams: singers, athletes, costume designers, beauty makeup artists, chefs... In their new jobs, they gradually regained normal social and learning opportunities, no longer afraid to show their faces, and began to work hard to achieve those unfulfilled dreams.
Group photo of several staff members of the café / World says
One of the staff members smiled at my camera / World said
"I can still be beautiful"
A girl in a black blouse walked past me and I grabbed her and asked if I could share her story.
Her name is Dolly and she has a bright smile and big eyes. Although she had written on the big screen about her attack, she happily agreed to me.
"When I was 14, on a vacation, a 35-year-old man asked to have sex with me." Dolly said that Taniya was helping me translate it on the side, and this opening shocked me. "I refused, and then he went and took the sulfuric acid and came back to get revenge on me."
Dolly (right) tells me about her experience, Taniya (left) translates for me / World Speaks
She told me that the man was her neighbor, a carpenter, "and that this man had asked me several times to 'sex favor' before, but I had refused because I couldn't have fallen in love with someone with such a big age gap." ”
Caught off guard when it happened, another neighbor heard the noise and rushed to the hospital to help her with a simple first aid. Dolly survived, fortunately, his eyesight and physical function were not greatly affected, but his appearance was no longer able to return to the past.
"I've been covering my face ever since because I don't think anybody wants to see a face like that," Dolly said, in a calm tone, "until I met more people like me here and made me think that if others can live with confidence, then I should be able to do it, and I feel that I can still be beautiful." ”
She had meticulous makeup, earrings and a simple little necklace, and I asked her if she would like me to take a picture, and she smiled generously and picked up a postcard telling her story to face me.
The picture I took for Dolly, the postcard was her story / world said
The most memorable trip
There is no price on the menu in the store, and guests can pay as a donation at will, and in the face of such a way and the story behind it, I think no one will choose to be stingy.
In addition to the food and drinks served in ordinary cafes, "sheroes' hangout" also has a free reading corner, while selling some homemade souvenirs, such as handicrafts or postcards of girls, etc., and the profits will also be used to help the victims of sulfuric acid.
Locals say the situation has improved slightly. Although new victims still appear from time to time, at least sulfuric acid is no longer an easy thing to buy.
Sandwiches and coffee, service and quality are good / world says
There is no price menu in the store / world says
Another piece of good news is that a film based on the story of Saa's founder Laxmi has begun to be released in India, which is presumably to bring them more attention and support.
The next morning, I rushed to say goodbye to them before leaving Agra, the café was not officially open, the girls were busy making preparations before opening the store, dolly saw me happy and said good morning, and hugged me kindly, it was a kind of sunshine from the heart, making me warm and making me feel sad.
Shabnam (left) and Dolly (right) / World says
Another girl named Shabnam chatted with me while sorting out the dishes, like a long-known friend. I said your hair is beautiful, I'll braid you, she smiled and sat up straight, like a little girl waiting to be dressed.
I stood behind her and saw that one of her ears had been corroded by sulfuric acid and almost gone. I gently pulled out a small clump of hair to cover her mutilated part. Given the choice, no one wants to suffer such a wound.
A moment to braid shabnam (pictured on the right by the author of this article) / World says
Group photo of some staff and family members of Agra Sheroes' hangout Café / World says
Walking around the café staff said goodbye to me / the world said
When we left, we reluctantly said goodbye, and different customers began to come and go in and out of the shop. I am sure that they will be like me, from the beginning of a little bit of understanding, to the end of the deeply moved, this is the "sheroes' hangout" daily day, but it is the most memorable trip to India. I can't express my respect for the girls, who not only were not crushed by the injustice of fate, but tried to smile at everyone, they were real sheroes... (Text/Zhu Zhu from Agra, India Editor-in-Charge/Zhang Xibei)