Women’s Day conference ‘unveils’ sad truth about domestic violence

Mar 10, 2015 News

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Burdens can come in the form of secrets, and for many women at the Pegasus Hotel’s Savannah Suite, a burden was lifted off of them as women from all over Guyana and the world shared their experiences of abuse at

Sunday’s International Women’s Day Conference.
The conference was a collaborative effort between the Caribbean American Domestic Violence Awareness Association (CADVA) and Caribbean One Billion Rising (OBR) as part of their Women Speakers Series under the theme: “Let the Women Speak – The Revolution Unveiled”.
Over 100 women from across Guyana and the world filled the Savannah Suite, listening to stories of love, abuse, depression and healing in a forum designed to foster support for victims of domestic and sexual violence.  A number of men and young people were also a part of the audience to show solidarity with those who shared their experiences.
Many attendees were moved to tears by the intimate and harrowing stories which came out of the session with some audience members choosing to reveal their incidents of abuse for the first time in their lives.
The series featured women speakers from across the Guyana Diaspora, along with artistic presentations and a memorial wall for those who lost their lives as a result of abuse. Facilitators included Cloyette Harris-Stoute of the blog Guyanese Girls Rock and American Author, Robin Shaye.
Of the speakers was former Miss Guyana Universe contestant, Jyoti Hardatt. The former beauty contestant shared the saddening story of her sister, Guiatree Hardatt, who died at the hands of her fiancé eight years ago.
Jyoti recalled her sister’s haunting transformation from a smiling young woman to a depressed spouse. The abuse Jyoti’s sister experienced even came to affect the rest of her family who pleaded that she leave her fiancé. However, before Guiatree could leave her fiancé, he killed her.
“We have to be our sisters’ keeper,” advised Jyoti, who said that her sister serves as a reminder of the deadly turn abusive relationships are bound to take. Jyoti shared her sister’s story as a way to open up dialogue on domestic abuse, while helping other sufferers to heal in the process.
“I noticed that in this room full of women there is a lot of support. You heard them speaking and relating to each other, saying that (abuse) is not right,” said Jyoti, “Speaking here today has opened up the hearts of many to start talking.”
Sharing her story of abuse for the first time was CADVA-UK (United Kingdom) representative, Ceara Roopchand, who suffered domestic violence as a child from both her parents. Roopchand is of Guyanese heritage from her mother’s side, while her father is from Ireland.  During her story she related that both her parents came from a background of abuse, which she felt played a role in her upbringing.
Roopchand’s story hit a particularly emotional chord at the forum, as she related an incident of her stepmother’s attempt to kill her during a family dispute. She also described the very tenuous relationship with her father as he was also a “perpetrator of violence”.
In Roopcand’s story, she also noted that domestic violence goes on to affect children along with surrounding family members; it is not isolated to the victim and the abuser. As such, “we need to address the issue of domestic violence, especially with children,” said Roopchand.
Today, Roopchand is the first in her family to graduate from University. Education played a major part breaking the cycle of abuse in her, she said. She has been volunteering with CADVA for over four years and said that she was amazed to see the success reaped from Sunday’s event.
“As soon as I finished women were coming up to me and thanking me for telling my story,” said Roopchand. “One woman even came up to me asking whether she could share her story of abuse at the CADVA event.”
By telling her story, Roopchand wished to break the misconception that abuse only happens in Guyana, and to show victims that they should not feel ashamed to talk about their experiences. She described Sunday’s event as the “right environment” to talk about domestic violence and sexual abuse as it provided a support system for victims.
For Roopchand, Sunday’s forum gave a sense of closure in a chapter of her life that she chose to repress for the majority of her life. “It has showed me that it is possible for me to develop and build my character,” said the university graduate.
While featured speakers took time to address the forum, there were also members from the audience who chose to speak of stories of rape and abuse.  For the duration of the event other activities such as dancing and question and answer segments further created an atmosphere of “sisterhood” within the vicinity.

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