A Beautiful Mind
Sarah Glover may have been destined to run a charity. At the age of nine she sent all her pocket money off to a charitable organisation and, as an adult, she regularly donated, but it was in 2010 that her journey towards setting up her own charity really began. Not only was she training to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds but she also went out to India to see the work of a friend’s charity, Vision Rescue. The trip was to be life-changing.
Part of the charity’s work was to set up safe houses to alleviate human trafficking. Glover was moved by the very young girls who had been sold onto the streets and brothels by their parents to make money so they could feed their other children. However, if the girls had a practical skill they could support themselves and their families without having to resort to selling their bodies for sex as a living. Deeply affected by what she saw, Glover, who is a trained beauty therapist and ran her own salon, was desperate to do something to help.
“I remember just standing there thinking if you give me a nail file and a pot of nail varnish, I could teach them a real skill”, she recalls.
As luck would have it someone within the charity had had a similar idea and the two were put in touch. A year later, after carefully thinking about the time and commitment it was going to take, Glover set up Born to Be Beautiful to provide beauty therapy training and skills to women who have been victims of poverty, modern day slavery and human trafficking.
ON COURSE
The first Born to be Beautiful beauty therapy course was held in Mumbai and was attended by 20 girls, instructed via an interpreter, with materials and resources as a result of an intense fundraising campaign. Now Born to be Beautiful is running projects in Africa as well as India. Glover explains, “Once the girls have passed their assessments they can begin earning money straight away. We provide each successful student with a starter kit to perform between 30 and 50 manicures or pedicures, a brand new donated uniform and a certificate. “The reward is seeing those women begin to use the new hope, courage and self-esteem they have acquired after doing our courses. A young woman, who is able to lift her head, look me in the eye and tell me what she thinks, is our greatest success.”
The charity has now started a big fundraising drive to provide accredited courses in its own self-sustaining beauty salons and training schools in countries where girls have been unable to access education because of the circumstances of their birth; whether they are from slums, HIV positive or ex-child soldiers. They were also due to begin working in Sierra Leone however this has had to be postponed, as they are not able to travel there due to the ebola crisis. Glover says, “We had been booked in to help with the Nehemiah project and train some of their students, most of whom are ex-child soldiers. The country is being devastated by the current ebola crisis. Charities that were working with local communities to re-build the country have left and the citizens are under curfew for much of the time. New fears are ruling the country and distrust of friends and neighbours is rife. But our overall ambition remains: to provide our own training schools and beauty salons in our projects in India and Africa, where we can gain access. Once Sierra Leone is stable again, we will go there.”
A SOURCE OF SUPPORT
Inspired by the work of Born to be Beautiful and its synergy with the aesthetics industry, Aesthetic Source has been sponsoring the charity over the last year. The company’s director, Lorna Bowes, says, “Aesthetic Source embraces its association with Born to be Beautiful because in the busy, flourishing aesthetics industry it keeps us grounded. The photograph we were presented with (right) is a very poignant reminder of the difference our support can make in providing vital skills and training to women giving them the means to escape poverty and prostitution by setting up their own beauty businesses. It means they can carve out and build new and better lives for themselves and their families.”
Glover is hoping that other companies in the beauty and aesthetic industry will also lend their support. She says, “Being a small charity we are totally reliant on our sponsors and it is wonderful that Aesthetic Source is able to continue to help us. We welcome support in all its forms be it training materials, uniforms or runners who take part in events to raise money on our behalf.”
For more information about Born to Be Beautiful please visit www.borntobebeautiful.org. If you would like to sponsor the charity’s activities and become more involved please contact Sarah Glover on 07813 290 831 or info@ borntobebeautiful.org.
