The Uttar Pradesh Mahila Kalyan Nigam believes there is no reason to run the cafe which offered dignified employment to survivors.

SHEROES

The Sheroes here, are women who have fought to survive after receiving a debilitating blow to their appearance and self-esteem by some members of the society. These women are on the way to becoming true fighters, who have the courage to live, work and walk in the midst of the society and force the society to reevaluate its norms about beauty and appearance. Unlike any other café or a general restaurant, this one is going to be solely run by the acid attack survivors. These acid attack survivors come from various backgrounds and diverse level of competences. Being unprivileged some of them perhaps have never been to a restaurant before. To start with such a project, it is indeed essentially needed to develop such a model which can bring out productivity and also multitudes of learning for the survivor. The model has to be projected in a way that can benefit the concerned acid attack survivor to the most possible extent. Hence to transform these acid attack survivors into successfully empowered earning women makes them an individual cult of inspiration among other survivors to be seen as “Sheroes” which sounds empowering in a strong positive connotation.

HANGOUT

While this project has various impact, the project has a model of a café / lounge because it promotes social integration as well. People from various sects of the society may come with a purpose of having food, snacks, leisure, reading books, shopping, etc. to Sheroes Hangout but at the same time they can also acknowledge the proximity of acid attack cases in India. In the previous routine of Sheroes Hangout we have often organized events for social interaction such as debates, book launches, social awareness conferences, music sessions, etc. through which general
public can be alerted of the consequences, circumstances and aftermath of an acid attack. The model can then be treated as an activity center for people to take concerns on various social issues in our society.

ABOUT STOPACIDATTACKS CAMPAIGNFor the past three years, since its inception as a Facebook campaign on March 8, 2013, SAA has connected with more than 300 acid-attack survivors and has guided and supported them with their legal fights, medical aid and emotional battles. The campaign is supported completely through crowd-funding and also runs Chhanv (shelter), a three-bedroom home that provides free food and lodging to every acid-attack survivor who is in New Delhi for treatment. Not long after Stop Acid Attacks came into being in March 2013, Chhanv Foundation followed in May next year, where acid attack survivors were were the board of directors. Out of this journey towards rehabilitation was born Sheroes’ Hangout.However, despite our continuous campaign to stop acid violence, such attacks are becoming more and more common with 309 reported cases in a year (NCRB year 2014) keeping the fact in mind that many incidents go unreported, especially in rural areas. Women and girls are afraid to speak out against the attacks and gender-related injustice as this leads them to being targeted for attacks. These horrific stories happen every day, including women from poorer areas as well as well-educated, wealthy areas.