On October 25th, the production Sistas Calling will premiere at NAPA Port of Spain, telling the true story of how one woman escaped her abuser.
However this production is much more than a story - it's a call-to-action and an educational piece towards ending domestic violence, with close to 1300 reports received by the TTPS as of September. Rynessa Cutting has more.
00:00At the close of September, the TTPS had received close to 1,300 reports of domestic violence, the vast majority coming from women.
00:09In 2024, the Gender-Based Violence Unit of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service reported 1,937 cases. Alarmingly, updated statistics for the period January 1st to September 27, 2025 already record 1,295 cases.
00:33These figures highlight the urgent need for awareness, support and decisive action. Among those, we remember Marcia Henville, a respected journalist and colleague of ours at TV6, who tragically lost her life at the age of 51 as a victim of domestic violence in 2015.
00:55Behind each report is a victim like Marcia, needing a way out. That's where Sister's Calling comes in.
01:03Each year, I, Russ Roach, would take two families out of this country who are at risk of being murdered to Canada, set them up, get them all their immigration papers, get them their schooling, get them their jobs, get their children support, get them their health card, get everything for them, every single year.
01:23This year, this year, this year we took out two. Last year we took out a family of four and one, the year before. So that's what I do in silence and confidentiality, that you would never know unless you know.
01:37But Dr. Ross notes, everyone can't be relocated, and many victims have nowhere to run. She stressed the importance of changing mindsets and cultures through education, as she reflected on her last moments with Marcia.
01:53I said, you sure you're not talking about yourself? She then said, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's a friend, it's a friend. And this is what women do.
02:02This is what women do because they're ashamed to tell. They don't want to take the business outside. They were trained to be told, keep your business at home, don't wash your dirty linen outside of the house.
02:15They were trained, they were brainwashed to do that. So I leaned into her and I said, well, tell your friend, get her passport.
02:25Tell your friend, get all her medical reports, all her doctor's report.
02:30Tell your friend to get friends and family members to write testimonials. Get a bank account and start putting money aside, unknown to the abuser, and leave it at her mother's house in case she needs to run.
02:46Tell your friend. She said, okay, thank you.
02:50Marcia was killed shortly afterwards by her husband. On October 25th, Sister's Calling will put on a production in her memory and many others like her in an effort to raise awareness and educate the public towards the eradication of domestic violence.
03:06And everything in the play is accurate. It's not edited. It's not fictional. When you listen to the music, the lyrics in the music comes from the work. The play comes from the therapy. What was said in therapy is said on the stage.
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