Spain’s NGO Bekoz Beko Visits Sheroes Hangout

Noida: On 8th October, 2022 Sheroes Hangout Cafe hosted their Training & Implementation Partner, Bekoz Beko, a Spanish NGO under the leadership of Izaskun Barbier for a week long exchange program with Team Sheroes. The program consists of a series of Awareness Workshops & Interactions with all the four outlets of Sheroes with survivors participating from Agra, Lucknow, Noida, and Odisha. 

Sheroes Hangout is a cafe and community in India, run by survivors of acid attacks. Initiative of Mr. Alok Dixit’s countrywide campaign, Stop Acid Attacks, Sheroes Hangout Cafes aim to increase awareness and empower acid attack survivors. There are currently four cafe locations in Agra, Lucknow and NOIDA. They started with a two-day awareness workshop on themes like menstrual hygiene, gender-based violence, and forced marriages for acid attack survivors by Miren & Malen,from team Bekoz Beko. 

The workshop also had engaging discussions on Indian Law, and how we can protect women rights with the available legal and administrative resources. For the past five years, the Sheroes Education Project has received support and empowerment from the Spanish nonprofit. Three survivors take part in an educational exchange programme in Spain with their assistance each year. With their support, language trainer Rajinikanth has been teaching survivors English and Spanish languages and facilitating their educational rehabilitation. “Nowadays, securing our rights seems far-fetched, when being a woman is practically a crime. 

However, Sheroes has provided us a better platform so keep raising awareness of our rights. In this workshop, we learned a lot of knowledge that is useful for going about daily life and addressing the challenges we face as a woman”, said Khushboo, an acid attack survivor from Sheroes Hangout Café on attending the session organised by Bekoz Beko.The director of Bekoz Beko, Izaskun expressed, “In the previous five years, Team Sheroes has demonstrated an incredible desire to learn and advance their education despite facing the most insurmountable challenges.They have improved their English and now fluently speaking in English as well. 

We are glad to see that our efforts are beginning to bear fruit, and we will continue to stand behind them unwaveringly In three years the female members of Sheroes Hangout have improved in English and are now speaking in English. I am very happy to see that Bekoz Beko's 5 years of hard work is now paying off and we look forward to working together will keep doing so.”