To bring the lost hopes, gorgeous smiles and tough confidence back, Musarrat Misbah, the founder of the Depilex Smile Again Foundation works for acid attack victims through her beauty salon dedicated to their treatments and surgeries.
Mussarat Misbah, story in her words-
“As I was about to leave my office, a young girl walked in and she was wearing a veil and she asked me to help her and I thought maybe she’s one of those girls who’s asking for financial help and support. I asked her to come the next day as I was going home and then she removed her veil and that was the day which changed my life. The girl in front of me was a woman without a face. She had lost her eyes, she had lost her nose, her neck was contracted to her chest.”
The foundation not only provides treatments to acid attack survivors, but also provides them training to become beauticians and are also offered jobs at the Foundation.
The foundation has helped around 600 women in the last 10 years! Most of the victims chose to work at the foundation because it is a safer world for them to be around people who are alike.
Mussarat Misbah shared, “On average they need to go through 25 surgeries to make them look better and then I also realised that giving them surgeries is not helping their misery, is not helping their pain because they are left to rot in their houses like vegetables.”
The two employees, Aneesha Zoya and Bushra Shafi shared-
Aneesha, “After this tragedy of getting burnt, I had a feeling that I am not the same person anymore. I stopped venturing out of my house. I stopped meeting people as well. I stopped attending any gatherings and functions.”
Bushara, “After coming here, Mussarat Misbah helped me a lot. First, she made me undergo surgeries for my face and then I did a course to become a beautician. It boosted my self-confidence so that I could lead my life in a better way. She taught me how to face the world. She made me believe that I have the ability to cope with anything and anyone.”
Mussarat Misbah says, “The government has to take stern actions against these perpetrators. Sometimes it seems the incidents are on a decrease then all of a sudden you will see in one month there are five girls been attacked with acid. So I think there is much more than what is being reported. To me, these girls are our heroes. You must salute them.”
Watch this inspiring story of acid attack victims working at Mussarat Misbah’s Depilex Smile Again FoundationFoundation
All the images are sourced from Buzzfeed.
