- Title: Egyptian burn victim takes on stigma through modelling, awareness
- Date: 11th October 2021
- Summary: ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT (OCTOBER 3, 2021) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) BURN VICTIM, HANAN ASHRAF EL-SAYED, SAYING: "My name is Hanan Ashraf and I am my own hero." ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT (OCTOBER 5, 2021) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) OWNER OF ACCESSORIES BRAND AND BURN VICTIM, HEND EL-BANNA, SAYING: "My name is Hend El-Banna, I am 37 years old and live in Alexandria, I am a burn victim." VARIOUS OF EL-BANNA APPLYING LIPSTICK EL-BANNA TAKING OFF NECKLACE AND WALKING AWAY FROM MIRROR EL-BANNA TRYING ON EARRING IN FRONT OF MIRROR WHILE ANOTHER PERSON TAKES PICTURES VARIOUS OF EL-BANNA BEING PHOTOGRAPHED MODELLING HER ACCESSORIES (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) OWNER OF ACCESSORIES BRAND AND BURN VICTIM, HEND EL-BANNA, SAYING: "People usually deal with burn victims as if they are different from others, are rejected and sometimes feared." EL-BANNA TAKING OUT JEWELLERY FROM BAG AND PLACING THEM ON TABLE ACCESSORIES ON TABLE EL-BANNA SHOWING ASHRAF ACCESSORIES MORE OF EL-BANNA PLACING ACCESSORIES ON TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) OWNER OF ACCESSORIES BRAND AND BURN VICTIM, HEND EL-BANNA, SAYING: "After having worked at my job for about a week, the manager came up to me and said that she's sorry but she didn't want me working with them because one of the children was afraid of the way my arms looked. The child told his father, and then his father threatened to pull him out of school. I was told that this would lead to the nursery losing money because children might be pulled out because of me." ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT (OCTOBER 3, 2021) (REUTERS) ASHRAF WALKING IN STREET ASHRAF SITTING AND OPENING BACKPACK VARIOUS OF ASHRAF STUDYING EL-BANNA AND ASHRAF RECORDING VIDEO VARIOUS OF EL-BANNA AND ASHRAF SITTING TOGETHER EL-BANNA FEEDING CAT VARIOUS OF EL-BANNA AND ASHRAF WALKING ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT (OCTOBER 5, 2021) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) OWNER OF ACCESSORIES BRAND AND BURN VICTIM, HEND EL-BANNA, SAYING: "I've become famous for modelling clothes and accessories and after seeing this abroad on the internet, where people with burns model and sing, for example on America's got talent, and they are treated normally. But here, (in Egypt) it's not normal. When I first started modelling the accessories that I make, people warned me not to show my arms because they thought I was fishing for pity, they just see it from a completely different perspective." ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT (OCTOBER 3, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EL-BANNA AND ASHRAF WALKING INTO CAFE ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT (OCTOBER 5, 2021) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) OWNER OF ACCESSORIES BRAND AND BURN VICTIM, HEND EL-BANNA, SAYING: "You know, the first step in any sort of change is always rejected. I consider myself the first to start this initiative in Egypt and the Arab world, to speak about burns victims and shine a light on them. Nobody else actually does that." ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT (OCTOBER 3, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EL-BANNA WALKING IN CAFE VARIOUS OF EL-BANNA WITH ASHRAF AND ANOTHER BURN VICTIM, MAMDOUH MAHMOUD EL-BANNA'S HANDS RESTING ON TABLE VARIOUS OF EL-BANNA, ASHRAF AND MAHMOUD TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) BURN VICTIM, HANAN ASHRAF EL-SAYED, SAYING: "When I was younger I couldn't look at myself. The first time I looked in a mirror was when I was in 12th grade. I never used to take photographs, if I hadn't taken one photograph in primary school, I would have never known what I really looked like." VARIOUS OF EL-BANNA, ASHRAF AND MAHMOUD TALKING
- Embargoed: 25th October 2021 12:54
- Keywords: Accessories Burns Egypt Fashion Stigma Victims
- Location: ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT
- City: ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT
- Country: Egypt
- Topics: Middle East,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA001EYPT93P
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hend El-Banna was making tea one morning over the stove, when the kettle caught fire and burned her arms, neck and chest.
Over twenty years later, the entrepreneur founded an initiative aimed at supporting victims of burns after her personal struggles with social stigma and finding a stable job.
Owner of an online accessories brand called 'Shahrazad', El-Banna models the items herself to battle misconceptions some have towards people with burn injuries.
"After having worked at my job for about a week, the manager came up to me and said that she's sorry but she didn't want me working with them because one of the children was afraid of the way my arms looked," El-Banna said about one of her jobs after moving back to Egypt from Saudi Arabia where she grew up.
El-Banna said the rejection she felt when relocating to Egypt became apparent when she couldn't secure a job.
Four times she was engaged and four times rejected by her fiancés' families because of how she looks, she says.
Today, El-Banna hopes to empower others like her and educate society in the process via her accessories brand and her initiative 'Ehtewa'a' through which volunteers and doctors provide medication, treatment, and psychological counsel to victims across the country.
One such victim is Hanan Ashraf, a 21-year-old university student who was burned when she was eight, after pouring gasoline onto a fire to keep warm during the winter.
"When I was younger I couldn't look at myself. The first time I looked in a mirror was when I was in 12th grade. I never used to take photographs, if I hadn't taken one photograph in primary school, I would have never known what I really looked like," she said.
Ashraf underwent six reconstructive surgeries over the years but even now she says her appearance makes it difficult to go to school or work.
In just three years, El-Banna's initiative 'ehtewa'a' has helped around 500 people.
"Just because you're a burns victim that does not mean you have to go above and beyond for people to like you, no, just do whatever comes naturally to you," said Mamdouh Mahmoud, another burn victim which El-Banna is helping.
Mahmoud had a total of 17 surgeries since his own injury, a hefty and exhausting cost that many in Egypt cannot afford.
Egypt is home to many charitable organisations aimed at assisting burn victims physically and re-integrating them into society.
The recently established Ahl Masr Hospital built for the free treatment of burn injuries is expected to be the largest in the region and relies on donations for its operations.
(Production: Hanaa Habieb, Mai Shams El Din, Seham Eloraby) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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