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Last updated: 13 july, 2010 - 12:40 GMT

From child soldier to head girl

Juliet, former Ugandan child soldier. Juliet talks to school children in London about her experiences. [picture: War Child UK]

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According to the charity War Child UK two out of three girls in northern Uganda are illiterate and 20% of young women get no education at all.

This is mostly because the area has long been the scene of a struggle between the rebel Lord's Resistance Army and the Ugandan government.

During the 23-year insurgency, thousands of children have been abducted and forced to fight as soldiers for the LRA.

Juliet delivers a letter to the British Prime Minister.

Juliet delivers a letter to the British Prime Minister. [picture: War Child UK/Sonny Malhotra]

Juliet [not her real name] was just 12 years old when she was taken.

Over the next six years she underwent horrific experiences, including becoming pregnant by a rebel commander and then losing the baby.

Eventually Juliet managed to escape her captors and returned to her family in Uganda.

Despite these terrible events, Juliet has gone back to school where she is now head girl.

She recently went to London to deliver a letter to the British Prime Minister to raise awareness of the lack of education for girls in Uganda.

When Juliet came into the Outlook studio she told Matthew Bannister what life was like for her before she was abducted.

Juliet talks to school children in London about her experiences. [picture: War Child UK]

Juliet talks to school children in London about her experiences. [picture: War Child UK]

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