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• 1 2020-09-15T16:32:26-04:00 Everyday Survival Struggles 12 This page contains a discussion about the News Media Analysis theme "Everyday Survival Struggles" plain 2020-11-14T15:52:33-05:00

  
  Stigma remains one of the most significant barriers to reintegration and to survivors’ ability to heal and move forward. In the news clip above, which covers the traveling exhibit's launch at the Uganda National Museum, Evelyn Amony explains that former abductees are impacted by stigma. Amony also explained in an interview with CBC’s Ismaila Alfa that 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. Returnees are often ushered into a “powerless victim” status, or a “wrong element” status, which does not reflect how they see themselves or understand their experiences. However, there is strength in storytelling. As Amony and Acan have explained, storytelling is an effective way to challenge 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.  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 Grace Acan writes, the Women’s Advocacy Network (WAN) was founded to address ongoing and gendered issues that affect 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, WAN, and other efforts, has provided them with opportunities to speak about their experiences. Through their activism, they advocate for the need to stop the abduction of girls and women in conflict situations.