"Ododo Wa" Community Dialogues

Blue Sweater

Over several years of intensive collaboration, artifacts were selected for the Ododo Wa: Stories of Girls in War exhibit. As Isabelle Masson explains, the artifacts tell stories and hold layers of meaning. For example, Grace Acan explains several reasons why the blue sweater in the exhibit is connected to her story. Acan was abducted from school along with 139 other girls. While Sister Rachele Fassera, the school's deputy headmistress, negotiated the release of 109 girls, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) refused to release thirty of the students. Grace Acan was among those thirty schoolgirls forced to remain with the LRA. As Acan details, the blue sweater in the exhibit represents the school sweaters returning students left for the thirty abductees. In 2000, Acan had a baby and used the material from the sweater to make warm clothing for her baby. Watch the clip below to see Grace Acan discuss the significance of the blue sweater as an artefact in the exhibit.    

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