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"Ododo Wa" Community Dialogues YouTube: "Advocating for Justice and Reparations in Uganda" Video: This is an annotated YouTube video documenting a discussion panel in which Evelyn Amony, Grace Acan, and Isabelle Masson discuss the exhibit and advocating for justice and reparations in Uganda. The panel was held 24 October 2019 at the Moot Courtroom of Robson Hall, Faculty of Law building at the University of Manitoba

The Ododo Wa traveling exhibit

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Reigniting the Fire: Grace Acan and Evelyn Amony Reflect on Presenting Ododo Wa in Uganda In December 2019, the traveling exhibit launched in Uganda. The African launch of "Ododo Wa: Stories of Girls in War" was an opportunity to ground the exhibit in its regional context in northern Uganda. For Evelyn Amony and Grace Acan, it was also a chance to show their community of fellow survivors the exhibit. The exhibit features drawings by survivors and the events in northern Uganda were the artists' first chance to see their drawings in the exhibit.

Grace Acan and Evelyn Amony have co-authored a reflection about their experience:

"The main reason we held the Ododo Wa event at TAKS in Gulu was to reignite the fire that was already dying on the issues of the sufferings that the then girls, now women, went through. We needed to come together in solidarity with our sisters, with whom we experienced the same fate, so that they feel those were not only the stories -- of the two of us -- but stories of women and girls in northern Uganda as a region, girls who suffered and continue to suffer several abuses like we did, and stories of girls and women globally. We also wanted our sisters to feel we are still the same people fighting together for our rights, advocating for reparations, and calling for an end to abuse of girls in war."

"Living together with our fellow victims has built very strong bonds and relationships among us women in that we share ideas, challenges, and we look for solutions to help each other whenever we are going through hard times. This has made us closer to each other to an extent that we feel the relationship we have are stronger than the ones we have with our own siblings. There is a saying that a friend in need is a friend indeed. This was our way of living while in captivity, where we shared whatever we had a spare of with a friend who needed most. Be it food, water, clothing and any help that can be given to a member who was in problems. This is the attitude we have maintained. Even when we got home without anything except our lives, we felt it necessary to give emotional support to each other to encourage each other at the time when we are starting a new life after war. With only five members who started sharing their stories, the stories became a source of inspiration to many more women who saw positive change in the others who were in involved with the storytelling, hence explaining the origin of this strong bond."

"We addressed issues the way we did in that event to assure our audience, especially our fellow sisters who were present, that we didn’t engage in the exhibition for only our sake but we still have the spirit of sisterhood that we had before and together with them we are still determined to go far with advocacy until justice is accorded to all women who have suffered in conflict in northern Uganda. This was evident with the use of a significant drawing that was jointly made by a group of ladies who, to express the challenges they went through, used visual art. This drawing became one thing that showed it was not only a visual expression of passed suffering but rather brought healing. Now it is in use in the exhibit as a tool for advocacy.

The responses to the traveling exhibit were positive as it was a representation of all the affected women and our messages re-emphasized the challenges that were presented in the exhibit so the audience was in agreement."

Before the exhibit’s launch in Uganda, we were a little worried that it would trigger past bad memories of the war if it was brought back home. But when we presented at the museum, and then in Kitgum, the welcome was warm and positive as the audience expressed that many victims do not have the courage to come out and speak about their experiences, hence deterring them from getting complete healing. They live in pain because of fear of community reactions. So, one of the positive results of the presentation of the exhibit and the storytelling is that it gave courage to the women to express to the audience the kind of needs they have as affected women.

After the first two exhibit events at the Uganda National Museum and the National Memory and Peace Documentation Centre, we felt there were more conversations to have among the women and the community about the emerging challenges that women are still facing as it was already going silent. We were contacted and appreciated by the audience in attendance who included parents of the affected people, community members for the efforts to re-awaken attention to the plight of women and girls who suffered during the war. The presentation in Gulu gave us encouragement and hope to continue with what we started and the audience were appreciative for the good work done. They kept asking for the next plans after the Ododo Wa event.

We are currently continuing with advocacy for reparations, and we are appealing to the government of Uganda to speed up the work of the national transitional justice policy so that meaningful reparations are implemented. Reparations include victim’s reintegration needs, such as their social, economic, and psychological needs. We also need Non-Governmental Organisations and international communities to support us in our struggle to ensure that women affected by war attain social, economic and psycho-social justice. Psycho-social justice supports survivors to heal emotionally through counseling and social support, like ending stigma, and encouraging acceptance by community, which helps survivors to feel loved in the community. This can be done in any form in kind or direct support by buying the hand-made product made by the women, supporting income generating activities so that they can have sustainable means of livelihoods