CADVA offers reward for information in missing person case

Oct 30, 2014 News

The Caribbean American Domestic Violence Association (CADVA) has announced that it will be offering a

Operations and Programme Director of CADVA Dianne Madray speaking at the Theatre Guild’s One Billion Rising event.

cash reward to anyone who provides useful information to the whereabouts of missing mother of one, Babita Sarjou.
Sarjou went missing the night before Diwali in 2010, when she, her estranged husband and then four-year-old son went out to view the motorcade procession. She promised her mother that she would return home before the end of the night but never returned.
Relatives of the missing woman recalled that she had a troubled marriage. She was physically and emotionally abused by her husband who would also threaten her. Sarjou’s husband was arrested and held for 72 hours after she disappeared but the case against him was dismissed due to insufficient evidence.
Nevertheless, CADVA hopes to reopen it with information that from the $100,000 award.
This is also part of an initiative to bring about justice to other missing person cases and to those suffering from domestic abuse. To further highlight the initiative CADVA will be putting on a show called “Let Women Speak Part 2: His Side, Her Side and The Truth”.
The show will be the first of its kind in Guyana as it was described by Chief Operations and Programme Director Dianne Madray as an interactive theatrical event. It will be held at the newly renovated Savannah Suite in the Pegasus Hotel, today, Thursday from 19:00 hours, with tickets selling at $1,500.
Madray said that the show will include “a creative fusion of music, dance, drama, poetry and spoken word”. She continued to say that “anything can happen at Thursday’s event”, as the production will have unscripted segments that will include audience participation.
This comes on the heels of Domestic Violence Awareness Month and was inspired by the success of a

Babita Sarjou

previous event held at the Theatre Guild by the One Billion Rising group.
The event saw presentations from the renowned American playwright Eve Ensler, who performed infamous Vagina Monologues. CADVA’s Programme Director said that she was surprised by the response the show received.
“We were not only hearing stories from women, but from men as well.” explained Madray, “We are bringing together the group again… to create an interactive experience. It will have his side, her side and then the audience will judge the truth.”
CADVA is planning to take their projects across the Caribbean with their next stop being in Jamaica in January.
On Thursday’s event CADVA, is hoping to raise funds in support of a billboard which will bring awareness to domestic violence. The billboard will stand as a symbol of remembrance for women such as Neesa Gopaul, Ngozi Goodman and Babita Sarjou who have not received justice in their cases.