Reshma was only 17 when a couple of men took just a moment to change her life forever.
With no fault of hers, she was left with multiples scars and no courage to live a life without a face.
But as they say once a warrior is always a warrior!
This young lady shares with HOB, how rather than giving power to her abusers, she gathered the courage to put broken pieces of her life together. And create something so magnificent that we are all in awe of her courage.
Here’s her beautiful story of courage, that may give you just the right kind of motivation to change your life:
“I was visiting my sister in Allahabad when it happened. She had recently separated from her husband and was getting a divorce, that summer.
My sister, our two friends and I were walking near a railway station when her husband and two friends were waiting with acid.
He held my sister’s hand and tried to pour acid on her but she was fighting him off.
She shouted, ‘Reshma, you run!’ but before I could do anything, his two friends pushed me to the ground, held my hands and poured acid all over my face.
I was only 17 at the time and my offenders are walking free today, while I have to go through life without a face.
After the attack, I didn’t receive a single rupee in compensation from the government, but instead from an NGO- Make Love Not Scars and that’s where I met Ria Ma’am.
She changed my life…I used to cry all day after the attack and had no hope for my life, but she drew me out of my shell.
I used to have no courage, but now I want to study and work for so many other women like me who have been subjected to this brutality.
I want them to have hope, like I do now. I want them to have faith, like I do now. I want them to know that beauty isn’t skin deep and it goes a far way beyond that.
I am brave. I am beautiful.”
At I FOR HER, we are applauding Reshma’s courage for bearing her pain with a smile, and showing the world what real courage means!
If this is not brave then what is? If she is not beautiful, then who is?
If you are one of the CHANGEMAKERS, who are working relentlessly in making our society better, safer and healthier for women, new-borns, wives, and mothers, then please connect with us so that we can spread a word about your cause. We believe together we can make a difference