To rehabilitate acid attack victims, Gurugram school students take action

Gurugram:  Moved by the plight of acid attack survivors, two Gurugram school students have set up a group to help in their rehabilitation and make them financially independent. The amount of agony, mental trauma, and financial problems these survivors face just because of a heinous act of another person cannot be described through words, 13-year-old Kabir Kohli said. To help them 'Abhang' (unbroken) was created, said the student of the Shri Ram School in Gurugram.

Kabir Kohli said that it was during an internship that he first got to know about acid attack survivors, their challenges, the money it costs for their treatment, the loss of education, lack of access to health facilities, and delayed justice. Anahita Kapoor, who studies in the same school as Kohli, said they had a plan in mind but executing it was not so simple. "First we were thinking of creating a cloud kitchen where survivors could cook and bake, but after a few meetings with survivors we learned that they couldn't handle the heat," Ms Kapoor said.

"Our plan is to create a self-sustaining and scalable business in the makeup industry. As part of this was have begun the process of raising funds, connecting with malls for space for kiosks, getting survivors trained in make-up skills," she said. Earlier this month, the duo arranged for a makeup workshop for eight acid attack survivors and now is in talks with various cosmetics brands to help them set up kiosks for selling their products.