Emma Thompson and Greg Wise welcomed a Rwandan refugee into their family after a Christmas charity meeting; he had escaped a rebel camp and prison before rebuilding his life in Britain

For Tindyebwa Agaba, arriving in Britain did not immediately mean finding safety. He had lost contact with his sisters, spent years under the control of armed rebels in Central Africa and escaped prison before reaching the UK as an asylum seeker. At one point, he was sleeping rough in central London. A chance meeting at a Christmas gathering organised for refugees brought him into the lives of actors Emma Thompson and Greg Wise, who gradually welcomed him into their family. The relationship gave Agaba a connection he had not expected to find. In the years that followed, he pursued higher education and work focused on human rights, protection and criminal investigation.How poverty, conflict and displacement changed Agaba’s childhoodAgaba grew up in Rwanda in a family that had little money but managed to send its children to school. His father worked as a farmer, and his mother cared for the family. That arrangement changed when his father died of Aids while Agaba was nine. Without his income, the children could no longer continue their education as before.His mother took Agaba and his sisters across the border into Uganda, where she persuaded Care International to help them with accommodation and schooling. The arrangement offered the children a degree of stability, but it did not last. As violence spread across the region during the 1990s, aid organisations began withdrawing from areas where their staff could no longer work safely.Agaba and his sisters eventually returned to their home village in Rwanda. Still children, they found themselves living in a largely abandoned family house while armed groups operated nearby. When Agaba was about 12, armed men seized him, his sisters and other children. They were taken across the border into the Democratic Republic of Congo after several days travelling through unfamiliar terrain. During the journey, the children were separated by gender. His sisters went with the girls, and he never saw them again.How Agaba escaped armed rebels before fleeing to UgandaAgaba spent approximately two and a half years at a rebel camp. The boys were expected to carry out a range of duties, including gathering food, keeping watch and investigating activity in the surrounding area. Some assignments involved risks that children could scarcely understand or avoid. Agaba later spoke about the experience with caution, making clear that certain memories remained difficult to discuss.Escape required patience as much as opportunity. He and a small group of friends spent months considering how they might get away without being caught. They eventually decided to act during a night watch, when they believed they had a better chance of leaving without attracting immediate attention.The attempt came at a cost. Agaba managed to escape, but one of his friends was shot. The boys found work herding cattle in another part of the country before eventually returning to their former village. By then, they had been associated with rebel forces fighting the government. Local police arrested them, apparently treating their involvement as voluntary rather than recognising the circumstances in which they had been recruited.Agaba spent about eight months in prison before escaping following a confrontation with a guard. He crossed into Uganda, where a Care International worker recognised him and helped arrange his onward journey. He was eventually brought to London, where he sought asylum.How a Refugee Council Christmas event brought Agaba and Emma Thompson togetherReaching Britain did not bring an immediate end to his difficulties. Agaba struggled to secure the support he needed and, in November 2003, found himself sleeping outdoors in Trafalgar Square. His circumstances began to change after he encountered the Refugee Council, which helped him find accommodation and invited him to one of its Christmas events for refugees.It was there that he met Thompson. At the time, he had little reason to recognise her as a famous actor. She was attending the gathering as a supporter of the charity, where she sometimes helped prepare or serve food to people seeking refuge in the UK.Thompson offered Agaba a lift to north London, where he was staying, and the contact developed from there. She and her husband, actor Greg Wise, later invited him to spend Christmas with them and their young daughter, Gaia. Over time, he became a familiar presence in their household, moving beyond the circumstances of their first meeting.Agaba did not initially realise that the woman who had offered him help was one of Britain's best-known actors. He discovered her identity months later at college, when a film adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry V was shown in class. Seeing Thompson on screen, he told his teacher that he had spent time with her the previous weekend. The teacher apparently assumed he was joking.The connection with Thompson and Wise was not presented as a formal adoption. Rather, Agaba became part of their family life, building a relationship with the couple that continued after the initial Christmas invitation. His experience in London had begun with uncertainty about where he would sleep.Education and work with vulnerable communitiesAgaba went on to study politics and complete a master's degree. He later worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, including on issues affecting refugees and asylum seekers arriving in Cairo from other parts of Africa. His professional work took him to several countries, among them Liberia, South Sudan, Palestine and Myanmar.The work brought him into contact with people whose lives had been shaped by conflict, displacement and involvement with armed groups. Agaba said his own background sometimes helped him establish trust with former combatants. He worked on protection issues through different organisations, including international agencies and charities. Rather than remaining permanently in one location, he took on assignments in different parts of the world.His later career also extended into criminal investigation, building on his experience of protection work and the circumstances in which vulnerable people become caught up in violence and crime. The professional direction reflected a continuing interest in the people affected by conflict, including those whose experiences are often poorly understood by the authorities they encounter.How Agaba turned childhood trauma into a career helping refugeesAgaba's relationship with Thompson and Wise remained a significant part of his story, but it was only one element of the life he built after arriving in Britain. His education and international work took him far beyond London, while his experiences as a child gave him a perspective that informed his dealings with refugees and former combatants.His early years had been marked by separation, forced recruitment and the loss of contact with his sisters. In Britain, a meeting at a charity event led to a lasting family connection at a time when he was struggling to establish himself. From there, Agaba pursued qualifications and work that brought him into contact with people facing some of the same kinds of insecurity he had known as a child.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.