When I was filming Long Way Down I had the incredible opportunity to go with Unicef to meet and talk with some young boys and girls in Uganda who had been abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and forced to fight.

Taken from their families and the safety of home, these children, some no older than seven or eight when the LRA abducted them, had experienced the unthinkable, and in the process lost a big part of their childhood. And even when I met them as teenagers and they told me what had happened to them, the main thing that struck me was that they were still just kids. Kids who deserved a different life, and a full and happy future.

Four years have passed since that moment, but sadly there are still hundreds of thousands of children being forced into conflict around the world. Unicef works to help them – to rescue them from armed groups, take them to safety, reunite them with their families and support them as they rebuild their lives.

With your help Unicef can go a long way to giving them back their childhood. I’ve been a Unicef ambassador for several years and I’m proud and honoured to be able to lend my voice to The Independent Christmas Appeal. Please help a child this Christmas.

Donate by calling 0800 037 9797 or by visiting unicef.org.uk/independent and ind.pn/childsoldiers. Thank you.

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