INLSA

The woman known only as Susan says she has been overwhelmed by all the support after the attack on her. With her is Braam Hanekom, the head of Passop and Dr Elizabeth Parker.

JANIS KINNEAR

Staff Reporter

ALTHOUGH she still questions why she was targeted, the flood of support from around the world has brought a smile to the face of the woman scarred after acid was thrown at her during a taxi ride in Cape Town last month.

Recovering from her first operation to reconstruct her face, the 23-year-old Zimbabwean woman referred to as “Susan” said she drew strength from supporters who encouraged her not to give up despite her face being disfigured when acid was flung at her by two men. One of them has been arrested since the attack on her in a taxi in the city centre on August 30.

She has flashbacks of that fateful evening, when one of the men, before disembarking from the minibus taxi she was in, flung acid into her face.

But she has been drawing strength from the many messages of support sent to her via Facebook and Twitter .

Speaking at the Idasa building in the city centre yesterday, she said she would consider revealing her identity at a later stage. She managed a smile as she expressed her gratitude for all the support and contributions she has received.

But tears trickled down from her right eye, visible from her still bandaged face, as she spoke of the days since the attack.

“Some days are better and others worse. I want to be normal and think should I have stayed at home (in Zimbabwe); I would have been a bit safer. I look at myself sometimes and feel maybe I should just die. I ask: ‘Why do bad things always happen to good people?’ but when I read the messages, I feel a bit better,” said Susan.

She said she felt some pain in her leg from which skin has been removed to graft her face.

Susan has no parents but has told her siblings, two sisters and her brother, of the attack.

Her facial reconstruction which may include stem cell therapy, will continue over a period of about four years at an estimated cost of R450 000, her doctors have said.

One of her employers at the Sea Point surgery where she works as a receptionist, Dr Elizabeth Parker, said more than R50 000 has already been contributed to a fund established to aid Susan’s hospital bills.

“I would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to people who ring up to put money down to help Susan regain beauty on the other side of her face and to ensure the medical process does not get stuck,” said Parker.

Parker’s husband and partner at the surgery, Dr Cyril Parker, said the violent act had raised a number of issues that needed to be addressed by the government, including commuters’ safety and sex-based violence.

“This disfigurement has far- reaching implications. Sex-based violence and violent crimes are prevalent but is there any deterrence that can be implemented? It’s real and we can’t ignore it anymore,” said Cyril Parker.

He said the one of the suspects arrested remained in custody. Police are still searching for the second suspect.

janis.kinnear@inl.co.za