“I Chose to Turn My Scars Into a Movement” By Hanifa Nakiryowa
In 2011, my life changed forever—not because I wanted it to, but because someone decided I no longer had the right to my own face. That December evening, I walked to the home of my estranged husband to pick up our two daughters. Our marriage had ended after seven years of emotional abuse and control, and I was finally beginning to rebuild a life of peace for myself and my girls. But as I waited at the gate, a man approached. Without a word, he threw acid in my face. The pain was instant, indescribable. I remember the feeling of my skin peeling away, the confusion in my daughter's cries as she ran to help and slipped in the acid pooled beneath me. In seconds, my life was disfigured—literally and emotionally. I lost my right eye, my nose, parts of my identity. But I didn’t lose my will to live. I spent months in Mulago Hospital in Kampala, wrapped in bandages and uncertainty. There, in those sterile corridors, I met others like me— survivors of acid attacks. Many had been attacked by jealous lovers, family members, or strangers seeking vengeance. What struck me most wasn’t just the violence, but the silence that followed it. These women—disfigured, traumatized—were treated as if they had caused their own suffering. There were no rehabilitation centers. No legal protections. No structured support systems. And almost no public acknowledgment that this was a crisis. In that broken space, something sacred stirred inside me. I decided that my pain could either end with me—or it could become the beginning of something larger. That decision became CERESAV: the Center for Rehabilitation of Survivors of Acid and Burns
Violence. We started with nothing more than a vision—a safe space for survivors to access medical care, psychosocial counseling, legal justice, and economic empowerment. Over time, with the help of allies, donors, and fellow survivors, CERESAV grew into a national force in Uganda and eventually an international nonprofit with a base in the United States, and a chapter in the UK. We’ve supported hundreds of survivors in their physical and emotional healing. We’ve launched campaigns to push for policy change, including a successful petition that led to Uganda’s Toxic Chemicals Prohibition and Control Law. We provide scholarships to children affected by gender-based violence, run skill-building courses for women, and connect survivors to hospitals abroad for life-changing reconstructive surgery.
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