Doctors, teachers, and complete strangers from across the Bay Area, California,U.S, are rallying behind Atsade Nigese from Ethiopia, who survived a brutal act of domestic violence when her husband poured acid all over her face and body.
Speaking through her friend who served as an interpreter, Nigese says her husband, who was a federal police officer in Ethiopia, regularly beat her and broke her teeth.
But one night, a year ago, after she told him she wanted a divorce, she said he threw acid on her.
Nigese is now blind with scarred skin. Her body is disfigured and even her own son initially rejected her, saying he knew her by her voice but could not identify anything else about her.
Menbere Aklilu of Richmond said she wanted to help. Two years ago, she helped another Ethiopian woman, who had also been burned by acid, something she said her ex-fiance had thrown on her.
Because of that experience Akilu, who also survived an abusive relationship, knew how to get…
