29/09/2017
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Yusra Husain | TNN | Sep 29, 2017, 08:19 IST
LUCKNOW: Seven-year-old acid attack survivor Julie can hope for a secure future as far as her education is concerned.
After meeting the child from Fatehpur on Thursday in Lucknow, Miss Universe Great Britain Anna Maria Burdzy has said she would personnaly fund her education.
The beauty queen was on a visit to Sheroes Hangout Cafe, which is run by acid attack survivors under the Stop Acid Attack campaign of NGO Chhanv Foundation.
Burdzy will raise donations through awareness lectures and activities in her school back home in Leicester, England for the cause.
Julie was barely two years old when her own father threw acid on her entire body in an attempt to take revenge on her mother, following a dispute between the couple.
Julie got attached with the Stop Acid Attack campaign last year and has recently undergone the first of her surgeries at Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences. The surgery will help detach the skin of her face from her neck's after it stuck together following the impact of the attack.
Getting acquainted with the survivors and listening to their tales of tragedy and grit, 25-year-old Burdzy, a human rights law student, passed on her winning crown to the survivors. The girls posed with it for pictures, creating memories of a lifetime.
"I felt a very personal emotion for Julie for whom I have decided to raise money for education, the most important aspect of self sustainment. I will go back to my school and try to motivate other primary schools back home to donate funds for the cause," she said, in between getting photographed with the very excited survivors who run the cafe.
Burdzy has also visited Sheroes Hangout Cafe in Agra.
She said the pageant's Great Britain team had also organised a fund raising cooking competition.
"Around 40 girls had participated in making an Indian curry, which was a difficult task. Donation collected has been handed over to the campaign for these survivors," she said.