|
|
|
Ten minutes with Musarrat
I came into this profession 23 years ago due to my circumstances. My marriage took place when I was very young and after my divorce, my parents left it up to me to study further or take up a career. I decided to become a beautician and went abroad to do courses. When I came back, I got a franchise of a famous salon and set one up here. My parents supported me all the way.
I was the first one here with French beauty products, mechanical treatment, electro figure therapies, and a year later, facial laser treatment. We have been pioneers where beauty is concerned. I have made a name for myself through my hard work. I started a teaching institute the next year giving diplomas to the trainees. It is important to impart the knowledge that you gain to others.
We also started doing make-up of models and artists for magazines, getting permission from parents as in those days, not many girls from good families were allowed to come into this field. We did make-up for commercials as well. TV artists Samina Peerzada and Nayyar Sultan started coming to my salon. There are so many salons and beauticians now, but in those days, it was a different story.
After Karachi, I went to Lahore in 1991 to set up a branch there. Now we have branches in all the major cities of Pakistan as well as Dubai, where we opened three years ago. Throughout our network, we have the same uniforms for our beauticians. We also have a team of doctors who help our clients if they have a medical problem that is related to their looks. I have put make-up on Jemima Khan, Lady Diana, Margaret Thatcher and Benazir Bhutto.
I have also acted in serials, but it took too much of my time, so now I make appearances in interviews or beauty oriented programmes only. But I have opened a production house which is being looked after by a professional team.
After having achieved so much and leading a successful career, I was at the point in life where I felt I had done enough for myself and wanted to focus on other social issues. Women in the past came to me for help at my salon and it made me realize that life was not just about looking good but helping women who are in need of it desperately. We have a lawyer who gives us legal advice and was able to help us on the issues facing these women.
One day, a client came to my salon with a burn victim, who had acid thrown on her face by her husband. She wanted financial help to send the lady to Italy for plastic surgery as a plastic surgeon there had said he would operate on her. That is how I got to know about this NGO in Italy called Smile Again which took care of acid and kerosene burn victims from Bangladesh, India, and now Pakistan. The largest number of victims come from Bangladesh. Since then, two more women have been sent in the past two years, who are still being looked after as it is a long process to recovery. They have to go through operations after regular intervals.
I was extremely moved by the victim and realized how small my problems in life were compared to hers. I had so much going for myself and here was a woman with untold miseries. From that day, I wanted to help women who were suffering and had nowhere to go and no money. These women’s families neglect them and treat them badly, so where do they go from there? A rehabilitation centre is what is needed for them. I approached a women’s bank and they have put in ads for these women free of charge. I have appealed to donors to help in setting up a centre and to stop this crime of acid throwing on helpless women who die a slow, painful death. Their perpetrators, usually husbands and in-laws, go scot-free most of the time.
My main goal in life now is to help support these women through this NGO by giving them medicines, getting the surgeons to come here and operate, and to set them up in careers so that they can stand on their own feet. The surgeons who are supported by the Italian government have promised to come twice a year to operate on the most needy victims and assist our doctors in operations too.
I feel frustrated that such terrible crimes are taking place on such a large scale and no one bothers to catch the criminals who have done this. There should also be awareness among the families on how to take care of such victims.
I now feel that there is a reason for me to be in this world.
|
|
|
|
