Changing Hawaii
NOW that the kids are out of school, and it's officially sum-sum-summertime, hitting the beach or pool sounds especially enticing to office-imprisoned adults -- except those who are self-conscious about how they look in public. One woman’s lesson
on true beautyWomen who think they're too fat or too thin fret about being seen in bathing suits. Men avoid donning swim trunks because of perceived beer bellies, love handles or not having enough muscles.
It's all pretty ridiculous, really, especially when put in perspective. For example, look at Bina Akhter, a 17-year-old girl from Bangladesh who is the subject of a fascinating feature story in the June/July issue of Ms. magazine.
Actually, it might be hard to look at Bina at first. According to writer Liz Welch, Bina and her cousin were asleep one night in their Bangladesh hut, when her cousin's jilted suitor and his friends crept in and awakened them.
The angry teen-age boy threw some liquid in their direction and Bina protectively stepped in front of her cousin. When it began burning her face, Bina thought it was boiling water.
It was sulfuric acid. The corrosive substance, capable of dissolving iron, instantly melted away the left side of Bina's face and part of her right. It was like half of her features were erased, except for a right eye and a still brilliant smile.
According to Welch, such acid attacks on females have been on the rise in Bangladesh since first being reported in 1976; there were at least 130 of them in 1998 alone.
Similar violent acts against girls and women -- usually instigated by spurned suitors or unhappy husbands -- have also been reported in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa and in the Caribbean.
Since a woman's value in far too many countries is based on beauty, most of the victims are then abandoned by their families and shunned by society. They are expected to stay out of sight, to hide behind veils. And they are never, ever supposed to talk about what happened to them.
Bina is not only talking about it, but is helping others through the same trauma. Because of her courage and caring, she was appointed about two years ago to spearhead an acid victims' advocacy program in the Dkaha-based women's activist organization, Naripokkho.
In her job, Bina tracks acid-throwing incidents, counsels and corresponds with survivors, documents stories for publication, and travels throughout Bangladesh giving speeches and visiting victims who can't or won't make the trip to Dkaha.
And she does this all without a veil and always with a wide, confident grin. "What happened to me wasn't my fault," says Bina. "When people see me, they will realize the consequences of acid throwing."
BINA especially revels in relating the success stories. In one case, a girl read one of Bina's leaflets, which describes what to do in the event of an acid attack. Consequently, after getting splashed by some boys, the girl remembered the handout's advice and immediately flushed her face with water.
The quick response greatly stunted the acid's burning effects, resulting in injuries that "weren't so bad," describes Bina. Later, the grateful young lady sought out Bina to personally thank her heroine.
"Knowing I'm helping other people gives me the strength to continue my work," she believes. "A lot of guys I see in the streets are scared of me now."
They're not scared of Bina's face. They're scared of her resolve.
Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
DianeChang@aol.com, or by fax at 523-7863.