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SHEROES HANGOUT CAFE

Agra, Uttar Pradesh. A view of the Sheroes Hangout Cafe.

The Sheroes Hangout Cafe is a truly unique place. Customers are served coffee as they do everywhere else, but the

women working there share a painful past: they all have been victims of acid attacks. The cafe is located in the

touristic area of Agra, known worldwide for the Taj Mahal, the loving tribute of a Mughal Emperor to his wife, but

it represents the violent side of the relationships between men and women. A violence that, when not leading to

death, dramatically change a life. Founded in December 2014 by the NGO Stop Acid Attacks and the Chaanv Foundation,

the Sheroes Hangout Cafe is the symbol of a group of women who struggled to rebuild their lives after having been

attacked with acid, the aggressions often perpetrated by a family member, or by an acquaintance, or a neighbour.

Like Dolly, 16 years old, disfigured by a man who lived next door to her, and who hit her while he was trying to hurt

her sister. Or like Ritu, the victim of a plot orchestrated by 18 people, attacked in the street by two boys riding

a motorbike when she was 17. They were paid by a cousin of hers, the reason: a dispute between their families for

the ownership of a plot of land.

The Sheroes (a word obtained merging She with Heroes) Hangout Cafe is a safe haven and a new family for Ritu, Dolly,

and their friends Rupa, Neetu and Gita – all working there, in the place that changed their life for good, built to

send the world a clear message: stop acid attacks.

A message to the world from the Uttar Pradesh state, where Agra is located: a region where many episodes of

violence against women took place in the last years. According to the Acid Survivors Foundation India (ASFI), during

2015 in India 249 people, mostly women, had acid thrown on them in deliberate assaults, and more than a hundred of

these crimes happened in Uttar Pradesh. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, because many victims don’t find the

courage to report what they suffered. And that’s why the Sheroes Hangout Cafe was born.

Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Dolly serving two clients at the cafe.

Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Two fashion portraits of Laxsmi and Ritu inside the Sheroes Hangout Cafe.

Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Ritu, the store manager, counting the day’s take.

Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Gita, 45 yo, the oldest survivor among the members of the NGO Stop Acid Attacks, baking bread in the kitchen of the Sheroes Hangout Cafe. On the wall: the handprints of all the acid survivors who passed by the cafe.

Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Some locals in front of the library of the Sheroes Hangout Cafe. Many clients from abroad donate their books to make them available to anyone.

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Ritu and Farah preparing some dishes.

Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Rupa, one of the Stop Acid Attack Fighters, dancing with some customers at the Sheroes Hangout Cafe.

Agra, Uttar Pradesh. A detail of the guestbook inside the Sheroes Hangout Cafe.

Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Rupa’s eye.

Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Laxsmi, testimonial of the campaign Stop Acid Attacks, with her husband Alok, founder of the namesake NGO. They are feeding Pihu, their child born on July 2015.

Agra, Uttar Pradesh. From the left: Dolly, Ritu, Nitu and Rupa, activists of the NGO Stop Acid Attacks and working at the Sheroes Hangout Cafe, while walking on the street.

Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Rupa poses for a portrait at home wearing a traditional sari. She wasn’t attacked by a man, but by her step-mother when she was 17 yo.

Her birth mother died when she was a child and everybody used to tell her she resembled her mother very much. The second wife of her father resented her for this, so she threw acid on her face when Rupa was sleeping.

Now she’s 23, and owns a little boutique inside the Sheroes Hangout Cafe, where she sells her own handmade clothes.

Agra, Uttar Pradesh. The hands of Laxmi, the first survivor of the NGO Stop Acid Attacks.

Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Dolly combing Ritu’s hair.

Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Sheroes Hangout Cafe: the staff meeting to decide the assignment of the day

Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Sonya taking a selfie with a young tourist outside the cafe.

Agra, Uttar Pradesh. The entrance of the Sheroes Hangout Cafe.

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