How a Rwandan Refugee Found Family with Emma Thompson

Harry Potter is not the only “Boy Who Lived” in Emma Thompson’s life. The two-time Oscar-winning actress, and our favorite divination professor, has also crossed paths with Tindyebwa Agaba, a Rwandan refugee and former child soldier.

According to IBTimes UK, Agaba’s life was relatively normal until his father died from AIDS. After that, he and his sisters spent a few years in Uganda with the charity Care International. But when the political climate in Rwanda changed, devolving into genocide, aid agencies in nearby countries began to close down. They were no longer safe.

The children were no longer safe, either. They returned to their empty home and did their best to carry on with life. Eventually, however, they met the fate of many other children in the region and were kidnapped by armed militia. Agaba was 12.

Agaba and his sisters were taken into the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he was separated from his sisters. Agaba, now 29, says:

“I have never seen them since.”

He was taken to a base camp with other boys. Over the course of two and a half years, he made friends, bonding with four of them. They were set to difficult and dangerous tasks, some that Agaba cannot forget. Though he could not leave the memories behind, he always intended to escape his captors.

“If you are not as smart as possible and you are caught, you get to know that that is fatal. That is the end of you. You have to be patient, have the tenacity to keep believing that one day you will leave.”

For months, he and his friends made their plans to run away. He managed to get out unscathed, though a friend was shot. Agaba lived, only to be arrested upon returning to his village. He explains:

“They thought the people fighting against them had been voluntarily fighting against them, which was not the case.”

He spent about eight months in prison before making another unlikely escape. This time he crossed back into Uganda and was picked up by a Care International worker. Against the odds, he was sent to London for asylum.

It was not an immediate rescue, however, and Agaba fell through the cracks. At one point he was sleeping in Trafalgar Square.

In another series of coordinating events, he came across the Refugee Council, which found him a place to stay and welcomed him to their annual Christmas event. This is how he met Emma Thompson.

He recalls:

“It was by accident – or by fate…My [adoptive] mother is a patron of the Refugee Council and occasionally when she has time she goes to serve lunch or cook for refugees that are coming into the country.”

After some time, he became an unofficial member of the family, though he did not even know who she was. It wasn’t until months later, while watching an adaptation of Henry V during a college class, that he began to understand.

It has been 13 years, now, and Agaba is a well-educated human rights activist partnering with charities and agencies in numerous countries. He says:

“I’ve been working in many different places with different agencies, so I occasionally go with the United Nations, or Action Aid, International Peace Force. I contract with different organizations – I don’t want to be in the same place all the time. My specialty is protection work.”

It is no surprise that Agaba gravitated to this work, since he has experienced firsthand the great need for it. And no doubt Emma Thompson is exceptionally proud of the boy who survived, became a man who has thrived and then, in turn, given back.

For the full article, read here.