The impacts of conjugal slavery in war are intersectional, intergenerational and transcend borders between communities. Grace Acan’s and Evelyn Amony’s stories travel beyond their personal experiences - resonating across communities impacted by war. The exhibit and Acan's and Amony's storytelling, open up spaces of conversations for survivors of conjugal slavery and their impacted communities. Many exhibit audience members and participants of community dialogues are themselves survivors of war and come from communities affected by armed conflict and abduction. 

At the University of Manitoba, audience members from Nigeria discussed the Chibok girls abducted from school in northern Nigeria. “I am actually Nigerian, and I quite relate with everything you ladies have said today,” one audience member stated and then went on to make a comparison between the Lord's Resistance Army and Boko Haram. Though the audience member was not “in the centre of” Boko Haram’s abduction of hundreds of girls in 2014, they reflect that “when I heard that story I was scared [...] I was scared” and it was “out of fear” that the audience member “actually moved out of Nigeria with my kids.” That audience member also reflected on the continued silence surrounding abducted girls in Nigeria, stating: "I quite appreciate the fact that you are telling your stories, it is so important that this story be told...for me, seeing you talking about your stories, even making something positive our of the negativity, it encourages me..." 

People from affected communities who gather to see the exhibit, to hear Acan and Amony’s stories, and to participant in community dialogues, show the vast capacity for solidarity. As Gilbert Nuwagira from the Refugee Law Project reflects, “stories like these allow communities to collectively reflect on the past, to discuss present situations, and to be energized to face the future.”

“It has been a very good exhibition, and I wish you should continue to encourage these affected war victims so that they forget the past and look forward for new development and change in their lives.” - Consy Ogwul, Grace Acan's mother, at the Uganda National Museum, 2019.

Intergenerational spaces of healing also widen as Acan's and Amony’s stories travel. Acan’s mother and Amony’s grandmother have played huge roles, supporting them in their storytelling. Acan’s mother’s support, and her help with childcare, gave Acan the time to complete her studies and engage with formal reconciliation processes and community-building work. Consy Ogwul, Acan’s mother, also worked with the Concerned Parents Association, for the release of children abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army.

At the Uganda National Museum, Ogwul reflects that:

“As parents, when our children tell their stories during captivity it settles our hearts and we are sure our children are healing. It is also an encouragement for others to disclose.''

Likewise, Amony’s grandmother has been an important part of the development of the exhibit as she lent the Canadian Museum for Human Rights the green skirt featured in the exhibit. 



The traveling exhibit and community dialogues support families to share how war has impacted them. In Kampala, at the Uganda National Museum, Evelyn Amony’s father Ohobo Marcelino reflects:

“I suffered terribly and even my child suffered in the bush and experienced several challenges. I thank God the Almighty for once again giving her the chance to re-unite with us.”

Amony's father also expressed appreciation for organizations and individuals who have supported his daughter's efforts to care for children whose parents did not survive the war in northern Uganda.

Community dialogues show the ongoing intergenerational impacts of conflict and the importance of relationships between parents, children and their families. During a community dialogue in Kitgum, northern Uganda, Evelyn Amony expressed her view that:

 “Our children should learn this history, not from afar but from close-by”, from us. (National Memory and Peace Documentation Center, 2019. As quoted by Dr. Annie Bunting, "'Ododo Wa' African Launch, Uganda")

Grace Acan also noted the importance of telling young people about the impacts of war:

“We cannot die with these stories.” The younger generation “must know the problems and avoid violence. The guns are silent but the impacts are still very present.”  (National Memory and Peace Documentation Center, 2019. As quoted by Dr. Annie Bunting, "'Ododo Wa' African Launch, Uganda")

These intergenerational and transnational conversations make crucial sites for reflection that show the continued realities of abduction, conjugal slavery and war.

In her reflection on facilitating community dialogues in Uganda, CSiW partner, Juliet Adoch, explains the difficulties women-returnees and their children face. 


Sources:
Quotes featured on this page are drawn from:

• A YouTube video titled “Advocating for Justice and Reparations in Uganda” posted by Robson Hall at the University of Manitoba. For transcripts of this video, please send your request to csiwproj@yorku.ca.
• Gilbert Nuwagira’s 10 April 2020 Active History post titled “Resuscitating Stories: Some reflection on the ‘Ododo Wa’ exhibit and experience.” 
• Written guestbook comments by Grace Acan’s mother Consy Ogwul and Evelyn Amony’s father Ohobo Marcelino from the Uganda National Museum event of 6 December 2019. Thank you to Grace Acan and Evelyn Amony for securing their parents’ permission to reproduce the comments for this project. And thank you to Grace Acan for providing translation. 
• Dr. Annie Bunting’s post “‘Ododo Wa’ African Launch, Uganda”