There is a feeling of helplessness reading the newspaper or watching the news and seeing another case of a missing or murdered woman and child. And with a multitude of cases, it is easy for the public to begin to feel they are mere statistics.

But for the NGO Act to Change T&T, it was important to remember these victims, and the group recently launched a poster series highlighting 125 missing and murdered women and children.

The group said in a statement the series is part of its "continuing to call for drastic changes and action by the government and opposition to make TT a safer place for women and children."

It said the poster series was not exhaustive, "as there are hundreds of women and children who have been victims of violence or have gone missing over the years. However, by collating some of the victims into a visual format, Act to Change T&T aims to demonstrate that steps must be taken swiftly in the areas of safer transportation, legalising pepper spray, removing bail for sexual offenders, approving the National Strategic Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, and implementing educational programmes on proper conflict resolution."

Act to Change T&T was formed in February by the mother-daughter team of Samantha Juman, a senior financial analyst who is now doing a graduate degree abroad, and Nadia Juman, who works from home and is involved in various community organisations.

[caption id="attachment_897673" align="alignnone" width="819"] The group behind the Act to Change T&T says the NGO was born out of a need to highlight the many underlying struggles facing the nation with the most critical one being the criminal elements and injustices faced by women and children. -[/caption]

It was born "out of a need to highlight the many underlying struggles facing our nation, the most critical one being the criminal elements and injustices faced by women and children. The true spark for us was the deaths of Ashanti Riley and Andrea Bharatt. By bringing awareness to this topic we hope to implore the morals and values of the citizens of our nation to rise up and voice these issues and to call out to our leaders to act, to implement and enforce policies that will bring positive change where it’s needed most," they told Newsday.

They explained that they are still trying to find themselves in this activist space and understand where their place is among many other organisations that strive towards common goals of social justice, equality, and safety of women and children in TT.

"Although we are a very new NGO that was formed and is still operating during a global pandemic where activities are limited at the moment, Act to Change T&T has an overarching goal to improve core areas of our country primarily domestic crime, violence and education, through encouraging and garnering community action. We aim to inspire and educate others around critical issues in TT."

They said this was most recently demonstrated by their call to action