Angelina Jolie and her humanitarian work

Angelina Jolie and her humanitarian work
Aleksandra
 
Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie (born Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4, 1975 in Los Angeles, California) is an Academy Award-winning American actress and model. She is known for her exotic looks, her tumultuous off-screen life, and her humanitarian work with refugees. She has received three Golden Globes as well as an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film Girl, Interrupted.


Biography

Jolie was born to actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand in Los Angeles. She is the niece of Chip Taylor and the goddaughter of Jacqueline Bisset and Maximilian Schell. She is also the sister of James Haven. In a 2004 article in Vogue she stated that her mother is from Chicago. At the Premiere Magazine "Women in Hollywood" Awards, she said her mother was born in a bowling alley and has stated that because of her name people often assume that her mother is French. Jolie's grandparents were French-Canadian. Her paternal grandfather was from Czechoslovakia. Her mother also studied with Lee Strasberg. She is of Czech and English descent on her father's side, and French-Canadian and Iroquois on her mother's side. As a teenager, Jolie dreamed of becoming a funeral director.[1] She attended the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute from the age of 11, later attending Beverly Hills High School. Though she enrolled at the film school at New York University after finishing Gia, she did not complete her studies.

Jolie has been long estranged from her father, though a reconciliation was attempted by his appearing with her in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. In the October 2004 issue of Premiere Magazine, Jolie indicated that she was no longer interested in pursuing a relationship with her father, but that she did not hate him because she realised that "...we only have so much energy in this life". Soon afterwards, he claimed that she has "serious emotional problems" on Access Hollywood, and she legally dropped Voight as her last name, taking "Angelina Jolie" as her legal name.

Career

Before she began a career as an actress, she was a model who was signed with Finesse Model Management. She modeled in U.S. and Europe.

Her first starring role came in the 1995 film Hackers.

In 1998 she achieved a major critical success, starring in the TV film Gia, the true story of 1970-80s supermodel Gia Carangi, who died of AIDS. Jolie won Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Golden Satmifie awards, and was nominated for an Emmy.

She had roles in several box-office flops until 1999, when she co-starred in The Bone Collector with Denzel Washington and won an Oscar for Girl, Interrupted. Her first headlining blockbuster role came from 2001's video-game-based Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

Several of her subsequent films, such as Life or Something Like It, Alexander, and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, were box-office disappointments, although Jolie herself usually received good notices. She did provide the voice of Lola in the successful animated film Shark Tale. Nonetheless, she has become one of Hollywood's most "in-demand" actresses. Following the success of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, she's set to earn up to $15 million to star in the film The Good Shepherd.

Apart from her acting and humanitarian endeavours, Jolie has worked as a professional model in London, New York and Los Angeles and appeared in numerous music videos, including those of Korn, Meat Loaf, Lenny Kravitz, and The Rolling Stones.

Relationships

On March 28, 1996 she married British actor Jonny Lee Miller, with whom she had co-starred in the film Hackers. Jolie attended her wedding in black leather trousers and a white shirt, which had her husband's name painted in her blood on the back. Jolie and Miller subsequently divorced on February 3, 1999. Jolie then married American actor Billy Bob Thornton on May 5, 2000. As a result of their frequent public declarations of passion and gestures of love (most famously wearing one anothers' blood in vials around their necks), their relationship became a favorite topic of the entertainment media. Jolie and Thornton divorced on May 27, 2003. Jolie has said in interviews that she is bisexual. In an interview with Barbara Walters, Jolie said "If I fell in love with a woman tomorrow, would I feel that it's okay to want to kiss and touch her? If I fell in love with her? Absolutely! Yes!"[2] In an interview with a British tabloid, model Jenny Shimizu claimed to have enjoyed a long-standing romantic and sexual relationship with her former Foxfire co-star.

Brad Pitt

In early 2005, Jolie found herself in the middle of a well-publicised Hollywood scandal when she was accused of being the "other woman" in the marital break-up of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. The allegation was that she and Pitt had started an affair during filming of the spy comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith. However, in several interviews she has denied starting an affair with Pitt. In an interview with Marie Claire magazine recently she stated that she could never have a relationship with a married man because she has seen what relationships like that did to her mother. Her father has acknowledged that he cheated on Jolie's mother when they were married. Jolie stated that she "could not look herself in the mirror" if she had an affair with a married man.

Thanks to a mixture of generally good reviews, advance publicity and the rumours, Mr. & Mrs. Smith opened in the No. 1 position at the box-office on its release in early June 2005, providing Jolie with her first box-office success in several years.

In late June 2005, the New York Post reported a claim that Jolie was pregnant - a report republished on June 30 by Britain's Sky TV, Sun Media Corporation in Canada, and the Asian Hindustan Times, among others. Her publicist denied this report, which would ultimately prove to be premature.

Speculation over the nature of Jolie and Pitt's relationship continued throughout the summer of 2005. On August 22, the Calgary Herald ran a front-page story with a photo of Jolie taken during a surprise visit she made to Calgary, Alberta a couple of days earlier, accompanied by her adopted daughter Zahara. Pitt was at that time filming in Calgary, as was her father, Jon Voight. It was later reported that Jolie and Pitt visited the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta together,[4] and sources reported in September, 2005 that they had visited West Edmonton Mall together.[5]

On September 30, the Calgary Sun reported that Pitt and Jolie had rented a house together in the city of Spruce Grove, Alberta, west of Edmonton where Pitt was filming; the same issue printed a photograph of the couple, now dubbed "Brangelina", leaving an Edmonton grocer's.

Rumors of the couple's pregnancy spread as what appeared to be a "baby bump" was noticed by paparazzi and tabloids in a variety of photographs taken from December 30th - January 7th. On January 11, 2006, both Jolie's and Pitt's representatives confirmed, through People, that the two were expecting their third child (first biological child) in summer 2006, thus indirectly confirming for the first time that they were in a relationship.

Humanitarian Work


Jolie has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees since 2001, and frequently travels to countries in order to draw attention to the plight of people in developing countries. In 2003, she published Notes from My Travels, a collection of journal entries that chronicled her early work with the U.N..

In a January 2005 interview with Reuters, Jolie criticised fellow actors and actresses for not being committed enough in helping others, and stated that she gives one-third of her income to charitable institutions. On October 12, 2005, Jolie was awarded the Global Humanitarian Award by the UNA-USA.

Jolie was also one of the first celebrities to accept an invitation to be one of the bearers of the Olympic Torch during the 2004 Olympic Games, though she was ultimately unable to participate because of filming commitments.

Since taking on her goodwill ambassador duties, Jolie has on numerous occasions made public statements that she wants to quit acting and concentrate on her UN work (for example, see Ireland On-Line in June 2005 [1]). However, she has also stated that her work provides her with the income necessary for her to continue travelling the world on behalf of the UN.

Jolie continues to balance the demands of being a film-star with that of being a humanitarian, despite an apparently gruelling schedule. On June 7, 2005, the Associated Press wire service reported on Jolie giving a presentation in Islamabad, Pakistan. That same day, she attended the premiere of Mr. & Mrs. Smith in Los Angeles. She now lives full-time in Buckinghamshire, England, and owns property in Cambodia, which she had to have demined. Angelina Jolie spent the new year of 2005 by going abroad to film a documentary called "A Moment in the World". She called on several actors and actresses to film in various locations around the world at the same time for three minutes. This was done in order to capture random moments that are happening across the world at the same time. Some confusion has arisen between this project and the independent endeavour A Moment on Earth, in which 60 film-makers around the world captured two separate moments on 5th and 6th August, 2004. No release dates for either project are known at this time.

In August 2005, Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni awarded Jolie Cambodian citizenship for her conservation work in the country.

In September 2005 Jolie was named the new spokesperson for the clothing line 'St. John Knits' starting in the Spring/Autumn 0f 2006. The deal with includes the start-up of a charity headed by Jolie. The charity will focus on children's issues and causes. It has been reported, but not confirmed, that she will also sit on the board of directors and have stock in the company. The deal is also believed to be the biggest celebrity clothing endorsement with the actress receiving US$10-15 million. Other celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow receive something about US$5 million to promote luxury clothing and accessories. On 24 October, Angelina Jolie attended the 'First Annual Benefit Gala for the Worldwide Orphans Foundation', where she pledged to partner with WHO to treat children in Ethiopia who have been orphaned by AIDS and are HIV positive. "AIDS is chronic and manageable, and does NOT have to kill any longer," said Jolie. She also announced her plan to support WWO's Paediatric HIV/AIDS Clinic in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and pledged an initial grant. The gala helped the organization raise $800,000. Dr. Jane Aronson, the organisation's founder, and Ms. Jolie first met through the adoption of her daughter Zahara and Jolie credits the doctor with helping save her daughter's life.

Adoptions

On March 10, 2002 Jolie adopted her first child, Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt. He was born on August 5, 2001 as Rath Vibol in Cambodia. He was being housed in a Cambodian orphanage when Angelina Jolie saw him for the first time there in a production break for the film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. After her divorce from her second husband Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie received sole custody for Maddox.

In the autumn of 2004, it was reported that Jolie had started proceedings to adopt another child, this time from Russia. However, no adoption ever took place.[7] On March 8, Jolie took part in a Washington Press club luncheon. It was there that she announced the founding of the National Center for Refugee and Immigrant Children in Washington, D.C., an organisation that provides free legal-aid to children who prior to this had no legal representation. Jolie donated $500,000 to the centre which will help keep it afloat for the first two years of its operation. At that same conference she stated that she never intended to adopt a Russian orphan boy. Jolie expressed a deep sadness at the media's exploitation of the child. She stated that she was on business through the United Nations and not looking for a child to adopt. She also mentioned that her son wanted an "African brother or sister" because of his love of Africa and the work he knows she does in that region.

Around the same time, Lauryn Galindo, the Hawaii-based adoption facilitator whose services Jolie had used to adopt Maddox, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to visa fraud and money laundering charges. She had been falsifying records of children to be adopted in visa applications to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and several of the children she placed had not been abandoned at all but were enticed away or bought from their birth families. There is no evidence that Maddox was among them, although the investigation is continuing. Maddox Jolie, as he is legally named, was naturalised as a United States citizen some time ago, and there is no indication that that will be rescinded.

On July 5, 2005, People magazine reported that Jolie was in the final stages of adopting a baby girl, who was orphaned by AIDS, from Ethiopia, through the agency Wide Horizons for Children. Jolie has named her daughter Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt. A woman in London has been claiming she is Zahara's birth mother since August 2005. Ms. Jolie had a lawyer in London to look into the matter, which proved to be false.[citation needed]

On September 28, 2005 while making an appearance to discuss America's financial involvement in fighting AIDS globally on CNN's "The Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer, Jolie stated that her daughter is an "AIDS orphan." By that she means her birth mother died from the disease but her daughter does not have the disease. The birth father of Zahara is not known. Her statement made it clear that the birth mother is indeed dead. In late October 2005, an Ethiopian judge ruled that there is no evidence to suggest that Ms. Jolie would have to file for re-adoption of her daughter Zahara Marley Jolie. The judge ruled that the woman claiming to be her mother is not the birth mother. Earlier in the summer, another woman had come forward claiming to be the grandmother of Zahara. That claim also proved to be false.

American magazine US Weekly indicated erroneously that Jolie and Brad Pitt had adopted Zahara together. When the magazine realised its error, the presses were stopped and an apology issued to Jolie and Pitt; printing of the issue resumed with the correction made, though a number of copies with the error were still released to the public. Reportedly, however, Pitt was present when Jolie signed the adoption papers. The agency later said Brad Pitt was not present when Angelina Jolie picked up her daughter.

In December 2005 however, it was confirmed that Pitt was seeking to legally adopt Jolie's two children. In support of this bid (and as part of legal requirements), Jolie took out classified advertisements in the Los Angeles paper, the Daily Commerce, announcing the name change request, and on January 19, 2006, a judge in California approved this request. The children's legal surnames were formally changed to Jolie-Pitt.

Other trivia

* She has said that she is bisexual and once claimed to have been in love with fashion model Jenny Shimizu, her co-star in the film Foxfire. "I would probably have married Jenny if I hadn't married my husband. I fell in love with her the first second I saw her."

* She is left-handed.
* She wears an American-size 9 shoe.
* She loves Haute Couture clothing.
* Jolie once described herself as "most likely to sleep with a female fan."
* She speaks "very little French" according to her book Notes from My Travels.
* The name Angelina actually means "little angel" in Italian. Jolie in French means "pretty."
* She drives a black Ford truck.
* She has a civilian pilot's licence.
* She collects knives and has interest in mortuary science.
* She was born at 9:09 a.m. in Los Angeles.
* Her uncle, Chip Taylor, wrote the songs Wild Thing and Angel of the Morning.
* She claims to have a fondness for Liverpool Football Club, having revealed that her baby son, Maddox, "only wants to play for Liverpool" after he was admitted to Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool for treatment.
* She has developed a passion for French cheese, especially Brie and Camembert.
* She has continually denied rumours of an incestuous relationship with her brother, James Haven. During her acceptance speech for winning the Best Actress in a Supporting Role award for Girl, Interrupted during the 2000 Academy Awards, Jolie stated "I'm so in love with my brother right now" which, combined with her affectionate behaviour towards her brother that night, sparked the rumours. On Inside the Actor's Studio she stated that she never had an incestuous relationship with her brother, stating that "the world is a lot sicker than I thought," in reference to the conclusion everyone jumped to. Also, in an interview with People Magazine she and her brother stated that, being children of divorcees, they relied on one another and because of that they hold on to each other as a means of emotional support. Jolie has starred in five student films directed by her brother.
* In October 2005, The Sun tabloid in Britain, as well as several American entertainment news programmes reported that Jolie was in the running to appear with her Lara Croft: Tomb Raider co-star Daniel Craig in the next James Bond film, Casino Royale. This ultimately proved to be a false report.
* In a December 2001 Rolling Stone interview, Jolie said: "My favorite book [of the year] was Loung Ung's First They Killed My Father, about her childhood in Cambodia. I spent some time with her in Cambodia when I was there with UNHCR, and she's wonderful." On Loung Ung's website, Jolie is quoted: "I encourage everyone to read this deeply moving and very important book (Lucky Child). Equal to the strength of the book, is the woman who wrote it. She is a voice for her people and they are lucky to have her."
* She hasn't stated definitively whether or not she believes in God or what religion she practices. When asked in an interview with The Onion A.V. Club if there was a God, she said "For some people. I hope so, for them. For the people who believe in it, I hope so. There doesn't need to be a God for me. There's something in people that's spiritual, that's godlike. I don't feel like doing things just because people say things, but I also don't really know if it's better to just not believe in anything, either." She is sometimes thought to be a Buddhist, but Jolie says that she teaches Buddhism to her son Maddox because she considers it part of his culture. She added a tattoo of Buddhist Sanskrit symbols on her shoulder as a prayer for him.


GiTaRiSt usnive da ti gi jadam :D
MeGaSTaR
Kaneo
quote:
Originally posted by Sasha

quote:
Originally posted by RaGeAnGeL

ma ja obozavam vo sekoja smisla na zborot
carica e za sve!!!!


Support src!...Iskreno ja obozavam


Same here! She has the looks, she has the brains, she has the power to make a difference - and she does make a difference!

"Time" magazine just published a list of 100 people who shape our world. Guess what? Angelina is on it, but not in the Actors & Entertainers category like George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Will Smith, etc. Much better than that - she is in the Heroes and Pioneers category, topped by Bono!

"Time" article: http://www.time.com/time/2006/time100/
Legal-Eagle Humanitarian? Yeah Right!

Do you mean she has a great public relations team working behind her?

Drop-dead gorgeous undeniably! Very talented - undisputed!

A vixen - Oh Absolutely.

If i ran off with someone's husband i too would make sure i would go to the least desirable destination for others to swipe him from under my nose.

How gullible we all are. Even i at times find myself smiling when reading the rags and asking myself "is this so"?
BorisVM
quote:
Originally posted by Legal-Eagle

Humanitarian? Yeah Right!

Do you mean she has a great public relations team working behind her?

Drop-dead gorgeous undeniably! Very talented - undisputed!

A vixen - Oh Absolutely.

If i ran off with someone's husband i too would make sure i would go to the least desirable destination for others to swipe him from under my nose.

How gullible we all are. Even i at times find myself smiling when reading the rags and asking myself "is this so"?


Ahem....

Angelina's involvement with UNHCR began with a mission to Sierra Leone, a small African country that - like the Democratic Republic of the Congo - has been devastated by years of brutal civil war. Seeing firsthand the enormous challenges that refugees face was a life-altering experience for Angelina, who decided to use her fame to aid their cause. In 2001, she was named a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador.

More...

She was a Goodwill ambasador before "running off".
Legal-Eagle "Ahem" need a cough lollie?

Boris, come on lets get real, there are so many celebs that drive wonderful causes and charities. I am not nullifying that nor am I trivialising it.

Furthermore it is wonderful that they lend their profile to such needy causes. But for one moment you can not tell me that it isnt publicity driven?

Hey, by the way i am not judging her for "running off" with Brad Pitt, basically when it comes to that man, all of my morals fly out the window, i would move to Tasmania if i had to. A long way from prying eyes and hollywood starlets along with the fact it is in Australia.

Anyway, it is nice to feel your sterness coupled with just enough tenderness and diplomacy not to make me feel entirely wrong in the eyes of the masses.

Aleksandra Poveke za Angelina Jolie....


Angelina Jolie on Religion and the Meaning of Life

Angelina Jolie does not identify herself with any single religion, nor has she declared herself an atheist (contrary to the claims of some atheist websites {5}. The subject of religion has not often come up in her interviews, so her beliefs about such things as God and the afterlife are not well-documented.

The most direct statement Jolie is known to have made on the subject was reported by the website A.V. Club (associated with the online magazine The Onion), which asked a number of celebrities the question, "Is there a God?" and published the answers from 52 of them in a September 2000 feature story. Angelina Jolie gave the following answer:

Hmm... For some people. I hope so, for them. For the people who believe in it, I hope so. There doesn't need to be a God for me. There's something in people that's spiritual, that's godlike. I don't feel like doing things just because people say things, but I also don't really know if it's better to just not believe in anything, either. {6}

So at least in 2000, Angelina Jolie had no specific religious beliefs, didn't personally feel the need for a God and disliked authority-based religion, but was not willing to go so far as atheism and expressed hope that there might be a God for the sake of those who dedicate their lives to religious belief.

Angelina Jolie regards Buddhism as an important part of her son's Cambodian heritage and considers him a Buddhist. "We spend a lot of time [at our house in Cambodia]. And I’m learning about Buddhism and I’m teaching him what I can. He spent a lot of time in temples with monks and he's learning." {7} Shortly after adopting Maddox, she tattooed a prayer for protection for him on her upper back in Khmer script. She said, "I asked for it to be done in Buddhist Sanskrit, which is part of (Maddox's) history."

Some have speculated that Angelina Jolie is now a Buddhist (rumor also has it that Angelina and Brad had a Buddhist marriage ceremony), but she has not indicated a commitment to Buddhism more than any other faith. In fact, she seems to take a United-Nations inspired approach to her family, and perhaps, to her religion. She is reported as saying, "I have a Buddhist son and I'd like a Christian and a Muslim child, too."

Aside from any particular religion, Angelina Jolie has given a great deal of thought to the meaning of life, something she has been searching for with great intensity since childhood, as well as considerations of morality. Having first found happiness in acting, and then in her marriage to Billy Bob, Angelina Jolie now finds meaning and contentment in her children and her ongoing work with refugees.

Question: Have you learned any important lessons since you became an ambassador, and if so what are they?
Angelina: I've become a better human being. I've learned the strength of the human spirit. I see different aid workers in camps helping each other from everywhere - people who have come together from all over the world to help people in Africa. It's changed my view of what is important. I'm not so concerned with things I used to be so concerned with. I care now that my son is healthy. I feel that I'm of some use to other people in the world.


I've been traveling for the last three years and the last two I've been goodwill ambassador. I initially set out because I wanted to learn about what’s going on in the world and wanted to become a better person and simply educate myself. When I found I could be useful in communicating what I had learned and maybe inspire other people to educate themselves and do some good, it made me so happy and gave me a sense of purpose.

Angelina Jolie in a refugees camp in Tanzania on behalf of the UNHCR.
I’ve learned more about life from refugees and people that are the survivors from around the world than anywhere else. I admire them. I’ve learned about family and just respect them so much and have seen so many horrible things and seen so much survival and so much beauty in these people. So they’ve changed my life and I hope to keep working with them and do what I can to raise awareness.

I want to fill my mind with valid issues in the world. I'd like there to be less refugees. I'd like all girls to go to school. That's what we need to be thinking about, and working on making our own families good and strong and our own kids happy. Not to cloud our minds with things that don't matter."

"I've been crazy in my life, and I've been wild in my life, I've never been a bad person. I've never intentionally hurt other people just to hurt them. And I'm trying to do a lot of good things with my life."

I love films, but I'm more aware of being a parent now and I'm more aware of the world now. I spend as much time as I can in a day trying to educate myself and travel whenever I possibly can. I'm grateful to be able to live in both. It's increasingly harder to come back into a world that is focused on material possessions...when you've just spent time doing something you feel is much more important.

RaGeAnGeL ma ja obozavam vo sekoja smisla na zborot
carica e za sve!!!!
Aleksandra
quote:
Originally posted by RaGeAnGeL

ma ja obozavam vo sekoja smisla na zborot
carica e za sve!!!!


Support src!...Iskreno ja obozavam
VeGaS
quote:
Originally posted by RaGeAnGeL

carica e za sve!!!!


Kolku pati si imam fantazirano koj sex go mava...
RaGeAnGeL
quote:
Originally posted by VeGaS

quote:
Originally posted by RaGeAnGeL

carica e za sve!!!!


Kolku pati si imam fantazirano koj sex go mava...


bogami...i jas bate
BorisVM
quote:
Originally posted by Legal-Eagle

Furthermore it is wonderful that they lend their profile to such needy causes. But for one moment you can not tell me that it isnt publicity driven?


When she is concerned, I really think that it is not publicity driven. In my humble opinion, she already has all the publicity she needs and then some. She was carrying her former husband's blood on her neck. Somebody like her has no problems getting the publicity she wants.

If you are referring to the publicity that she brings to the causes she supports, then yes, I agree that it is publicity driven, but that is good kind of publicity.
Aleksandra



Ask actress Angelina Jolie

Actress and campaigner Angelina Jolie is a goodwill ambassador for the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

Jolie's UNHCR role has taken her to refugee camps throughout the world


Nadil Sanghar, Mombasa, Kenya:
What was the deciding factor for you to take on an active role in assisting refugees?


Angelina Jolie:
The deciding factor was having spent time with refugee families. They continue to inspire and teach me. They are amazing survivors.

Emiko Harada, Singapore:
Why did you choose to help out the UN's refugee agency when there are so many other UN agencies and causes to support?


Angelina Jolie:
sat up a few nights reading everything I could about the different aid groups and projects. I was shocked when I read about 20 million people under the care of UNHCR and how they are the most vulnerable people in the world. I felt refugees were something I should have known about. I was then determined to tell others about it.

Maria Saldanha, Rome, Italy:
How has being a goodwill ambassador for UNHCR changed your life?


Angelina Jolie:
It has given me a life filled with purpose. Who are we if we are not useful to others?

Gibril Njie, Glasgow, Scotland:
What should be done by both the countries where refugees hail from and of course the richer and powerful nations to avoid people becoming refugees?


Angelina Jolie:
In countries where people have to flee their homes because of persecution and violence, political solutions must be found, peace and tolerance restored, so that refugees can return home. In my experience, going home is the deepest wish of most refugees.

Rich and powerful nations need to be more fully invested in finding solutions for refugees, both through financial support for refugee operations and by placing solutions for refugees higher on the international political agenda. The rich nations could also do more, faster, to seize development opportunities to make sure that fragile solutions and peace are sustained in places like Afghanistan.

Chris Prior, Wellington, New Zealand:
Has the worldwide refugee problem improved in the last 10 years?


Angelina Jolie:
n terms of numbers, yes. In 1992 there were 18 million refugees and today there are about 10 million refugees in various parts of the world. In addition there are tens of millions of people displaced within their own countries because of persecution, violence, and war.


Statistics tell only part of the story - behind the figures are families struggling to survive on minimal assistance
There are also thousands of others who have recently returned home who need help in rebuilding their communities. There is still a huge job to do in finding lasting solutions for vulnerable families. Statistics tell only part of the story. Behind the figures are families struggling to survive on minimal assistance.

This will be the case until solutions are found. In some countries, conflicts have been resolved, refugees have gone home, solutions have been found. But new crises keep erupting, creating new refugee populations. And some refugee situations have simply continued for years with no resolution in sight. All those lives in suspension, for years and years.

Duane Quek, Singapore:
What was your initial reaction when you first visited a refugee camp?

Stella Pahinis, Barcelona, Spain:
What is the most difficult part when you first visit a camp? How do the refugees react towards you?


Angelina Jolie:
When they come to you with desperate eyes and pleading hands and express all they have lost. They tell you their fears and concerns for their children. The most difficult part is not having a solution and for them to feel helpless.

Prakash, Geneva, Switzerland:
What is the biggest problem faced by refugees and how do you believe it should be addressed?


Angelina Jolie:
The biggest problem could be the hostility, negative stereotyping, misperception and in some cases, downright racism faced by refugees. The mistaken negative perceptions about refugees often result in a cascade of concrete problems for them including anti-refugee legislation, abuse of refugees' human rights, severe drops in donations for refugee operations, and even brutal behaviour toward them.

Rob Poole, Lund, Sweden:
I have often felt that the voices of those representing refugees go unheard in the din of international politics. Do you believe this is changing? What has been your biggest frustration?


Angelina Jolie:
This is linked to the previous question. A lot of people hold negative views about refugees without bothering to know the facts. It seems that increasingly, in some countries, being tough with refugees and asylum seekers has become part of the political game. In some places it's an election issue and in all the noise the refugee situation becomes distorted, and those of us trying to talk about the realities are drowned out.

Lorik, Mitrovica, Kosovo:
Are political solutions the only way to solve refugee problems?


Angelina Jolie:
At the end of the day, yes. Without political solutions, on some level, the problems that created refugees like persecution and war, continue to rage. Even if military intervention makes a difference in some situations, it still has to be followed up with a political solution.


Negative stereotyping, hatred and violence can be fought by spreading awareness
Some element of political change and agreement is always required, at whatever level - community, state, international - before refugees can feel safe to go home or other solutions can be found. But other refugee problems, like negative stereotyping, hatred and violence can be fought by spreading awareness.

Andre Muberangabo, Quebec, Canada:
I'm a Rwandan who grew up in a refugee camp in Burundi. The UNHCR enabled me to go to school. Do you encourage refugees you meet to return home if it's possible?


Angelina Jolie:
In many cases it is not safe to return home. But of course, when it is, I believe the future of your country and your people need you. So yes, I encourage many people to go home.

Diep Nguyen Thi, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam:
Do you think your work brings concrete success or is it only symbolic?


Angelina Jolie:
Fortunately I have seen concrete success. For example I was very vocal about a particular camp that was going to be closed, forcing many people back into danger. I fought with others and it was not closed. In other cases I have seen schools, homes and wells built that I funded. But the most rewarding aspect are the letters I receive from young people from around the world who want to tell me they are joining the fight to help others, and that they will educate themselves and do what they can. They give me more hope for our future.

Muhammed, Iraq:
Are you planning to visit Iraq?


Angelina Jolie:
I tend to go to areas that need attention - forgotten emergencies. So I don't feel I can be useful there at the moment. My next trip will be to the border of the Sudan.

Shakir Wakil, Kabul, Afghanistan:
Will you visit Afghanistan?


Angelina Jolie:
Yes, I feel the media has shifted focus to Iraq and I want us all not to forget the promises made. The needs of the people of Afghanistan and the long commitment to help properly rebuild the country should be met.

James Clarke, Kigoma, Tanzania:
You expressed dismay over the food shortages faced by refugees at the Lugufu camp in Tanzania. What do you think should be done, so that these refugees, many of whom have suffered so much already, get enough food?


Angelina Jolie:
It's a simple equation - when funding runs out, food rations are cut. Refugee operations are under-supported by the international community and refugees are not a popular cause with private donors either. So sometimes refugees have to go without essentials like enough food, clean water, shelter from the elements, not to even mention things like healthcare and education. Part of my job as goodwill ambassador is to draw attention to the many hidden refugee emergencies, and human tragedies that you will not find in the headlines.
GiTaRiSt Nema zbor devojkata si e zakon im posakuvam na site mazi po edna vakfa devojka..:-)))
dada Sani Thumbs up za Angeto (taka si ja vikam jas Angelina):) Sinokja na TV slusnav deka "Namibians call for Brangelina baby holiday".
Na radio odi anketa na koja slusatelite se izjasnuvaat dali denot koga kje se rodi bebeto na Angelina Jolie i Brad Pitt treba da se slavi kako nacionalen praznik?! Anketata e neformalna i rezultaite se 50-50, no anketata se'uste trae:) Vakva cest imaat samo kralevi, kralici i narodni heroi. Sekoja cest Ange
Aleksandra Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt arrives

Last Updated Sat, 27 May 2006 23:06:38 EDT
CBC News

The world can now relax. Angelina's and Brad's baby has arrived.


Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in 2005, in their courting days. (Canadian Press)

FROM JAN. 11, 2006: Tabloid favourite Angelina Jolie pregnant

The Hollywood glamour couple Saturday became parents to Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, a tiny girl.

Her parents are, for the few in the world who haven't kept track, actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, the former spouse of Jennifer Aniston. The split of Aniston and Pitt was big news late last year, especially after he was linked to Jolie.


FROM DEC. 3, 2005: Brad becomes dad to Angelina Jolie's kids

Little Shiloh was born Saturday evening in Namibia, in southwest Africa where the two film stars have been campaigning on behalf of refugees.

Jolie has been a frequent visitor to Africa, especially since she began serving as goodwill ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Jolie, 30, and Pitt, 42, already have two adopted children, toddler Zahara from Ethiopia, and four-year-old Maddox from Cambodia.