This video of an acid attack survivor showing how to apply lipstick is intensely moving
This video of an acid attack survivor showing how to apply lipstick is intensely moving
Barbara Tasch
Youtube/Make Love Not Scars
Still from the lipstick tutorial video by Reshma Quereshi.
Beauty Tips by Reshma. The video starts off like thousands of other make-up tutorials on Youtube. Her "last tip," though, is not found in many make-up tutorials.
Reshma Quereshi, who is now 18, urges her viewers to help end the sale of acid.
"You'll find a red lipstick easily in the market ... just like concentrated acid," Quereshi said.
She was attacked last year by her estranged brother-in-law and some other men. They held her down and poured sulfuric acid on her face, The New York Times reports.
In the attack, Quereshi lost her left eye, and most of her face was really badly scarred.
At the end of the video, she urges viewers to sign a petition that has been set up to push the government in India to enforce bans on the sale of acid. The petition has gathered 219,535 signatures.
Quereshi also has videos on how to apply eyeliner and how to get rid of dark spots, as part of a series of videos to raise awareness on how easily and cheaply acid is available. The video on how to apply lipstick has already gathered nearly 1 million views and led to the petition being shared on social media with the #endacidsale hashtag.
According to The New York Times, Bharat Nayak, a representative for Make Love Not Scars, the group that produced the video, wrote in an email that he estimates the number of acid attacks to be around 1,000 a year.
Although India's Supreme Court ordered in 2013 that the open sale of acid be stopped, activists say some kinds of acid are still easily available, The New York Times reports. The campaign also aims to improve medical treatment and legal aid to victims.
In an interview with People last week, Quereshi said Make Love Not Scars helped her launch a fundraising page to pay for her surgery after the government failed to fund the operation.
"I was only 17 at the time and my offenders are walking free today, while I have to go through life without a face," Quereshi told People. Her brother-in-law was arrested, but Quereshi's family told The New York Times that two of the other men were never caught.
