Stigma remains one of the most significant barriers to reintegration and to survivors’ ability to heal and move forward. As Amony explains in an interview with CBC’s Ismaila Alfa, returnees experience stigma due to the belief that they joined the rebel ranks willingly, rather than forcefully. The experience of returning home can be difficult for survivors, due to fear of how others may perceive them. These sentiments reflect how returnees are often ushered into a “powerless victim” status, or a “wrong element” status within their communities. However, there is strength in storytelling. As Amony and Acan have explained, storytelling through the Ododo Wa exhibit has proven to be an effective way to challenge those false perceptions, heal from trauma, and to inform their communities about life in captivity. 

For Acan and Amony, their faith and the hope that they would be reunited with their families helped them hold on while surviving life in captivity. For survivors such as Amony and Acan, faith was, and continues to be, an important part of understanding their experiences and making sense of their survival. Their faith also helps them move forward in their lives now and informs their perception of justice. As Sanders from The Winnipeg Free Press writes, Acan and Amony are "focusing on the issue, not the perpetrator" to "let the past go, and go forward to a better future."

As Acan writes, the Women’s Advocacy Network (WAN) was founded to address ongoing and gendered issues that affected survivors. For example, “poor access to healthcare, economic hardship, social stigma, and exclusion” (Acan, 2020). Similarly, Acan writes, as many women return to their communities, they “have to take care of the children they gave birth to in captivity without having the necessary means of livelihood” (Acan, 2020).

News coverage on the event held at the Uganda National Museum focused on healing for “all the girls abducted by Lord Resistance Army rebels,” and for survivors who continue to experience the effects of war. The platform that Amony and Acan have developed through the Ododo Wa exhibit and WAN has provided them with opportunities to speak about their experience. Through their activism, they advocate for the need to stop the abduction of girls and women in conflict situations.