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Over the weekend news broke that – as always – Angelina Jolie had quietly slipped off to do more work with the UNHCR. This time her visit took her to Kenya to visit what she refers to as “one of the most dire” refugee camps that she has ever seen. I read Notes From My Travels over the summer and so many of the places she saw sounded awful, so I can’t imagine how much worse that makes the Dadaab camp near the Kenya-Somali border.
Here’s video footage shot by the UNHCR showing her visit while she narrates what it’s like in Dadaab.
It’s startling to hear that the camp is designed to provide space for 90,000 people and yet necessity makes it so that there are currently almost 300,000 people living there.
What’s especially frightening to me is that Angelina explains how efforts contained the most recent cholera outbreak in the camp but that there are about 7000 people arriving daily and the humanitarian teams are saying they won’t be able to contain the next one. That’s terrifying to hear. In our Western world, cholera is unheard of and to know that a lot of people will die the next time it hits Dadaab is devastating.
Angie goes on to tell us that toilets are all overflowing and refugees are living among their own trash because there’s simply not enough space for a more sanitary garbage dump. To make matters worse, things in Somalia are not improving in any way and that means more refugees fleeing their homes and having nowhere else to go but Dadaab.
I’ve read before – in her book, in articles from the UN – that it’s stunning how kind the refugees can be to one another under such incredibly horrible circumstances. Angelina says that the Somali families have been so generous with each other sharing the very little amount of supplies that they have, to the point where they end up living on 1/8 of the water they should have. It’s one of the few heartening things in this situation, to see people coming together as much as they can.
The video shows Angelina soothing a Somali baby while learning of their dehydration and depleted health. It’s so wonderfully typical to see her with one of the many children.
The video ends with Angelina saying she wishes more people could meet these Somali refugee families because then maybe more people would want to help.
You can learn even more by reading the full press release at the UNHCR site.
I love her movies, I love seeing her out with Brad Pitt and their kids, but in all honesty these are my favorite stories, the ones where she is doing what she is so passionate about and bringing much-needed attention to the people who need it the most.
Sherry, thank you so much for outlining what Angie had to say. I find the older I get (now 70) I can not watch heartbreaking stories. It makes me so sad and upset to know conditions like this are happening in so many countries. I am so proud to be a fan of this wonderful women. Angie has grown so much over the last 8 years. She truly can show some of these young women in Hollywood, that you can move past your bad decisions (most of us have done things that we regret) and provide so much love and happiness to others.
I have made my donation to UNHCR. I am always proud to be an Angleina Jolie and Brad Pitt fan. They both are beautiful human beings and great parents.
She really loves babies. Her humanitarian work is really remarkable. I admire and humble by her generosity in terms of her time and her donations. She and Brad are a compatible couple.
Thank you for this really touching video, Sherry! It´s always amazing to see how Angie has time and energy for these goodwill trips to meet these refugees. I´m proud to be her and Brad´s fan. She does a marvellous job by making us Westerners to see that there are countries in the world where people have to live in these very primary conditions without all the luxuries we have. They don´t have permanent roofs over their heads, have often fled their home countries because of one reason or another (civil wars, tribal wars etc.) and have to live in tents. They don´t often have even the basic necessities like clean water or proper food. Angie has changed so much during these 8 years she has done this job. She was a self-distructive young woman and look at her now! She is doing a job she loves:helping those people who don´t have much and in her personal life she has found love with Brad and their six adorable children. She really should be a role model to those young Hollywood stars of today (and why not to all of us) that it´s possible to change and learn from our mistakes. Her mum would be so proud of her. I´m sure that Brad is. He shares her enthusiasm of helping the people in need (Make It Right Project in NO). God bless them both and their family!
As I posted on the last thread it really breaks your heart to see these beautiful children living in these horrible conditions. Yet, you see the warmth & spirit that Angie talks about when she visits a refugee camp. Speaking of Angie…how many actresses can you think of who would be willing to travel to places such as Dadaab to bring attention to refugee camps that don’t even show up on the public radar? She truly is an angel.
Sherry – You are also an angel for dedicating your recent blogathon to UNHCR. It was very generous of your time and energy to raise money for this worthy organization. Wonderful job!!
She is remarkable. Brad and sge are very luchy that they found each other.
I meant Angie of course.
I love everything about her, her partner , her kids and the humanitarian work that she does. I really look up to her.
I just watched the video…and I love the way Angie speaks in it. You can tell that she is speaking from her heart, and that she truly cares about these people. I cannot believe that some of the h8ters continue to insist that she does these humanatarian visits for publicity. It’s painfully obvious that, as I said above, she truly cares about these people.
I can’t help but wonder if, when she was comforting that baby, she thought about how sickly and dehydrated Zahara was when she first adopted her.
Oh, and I love how Angie seems to have a humantarian work uniform: the blue hat and a black or white shirt (sometimes she’s seen in a black one, sometimes in a white one)!
UNDER MOD- My thoughts on the video.
This is completely out of topic. I just read this morning (Sept. 15) that Patrick Swayze has passed away. My deepest condolences to his whole family. He fought bravely against a serious illnes for almost two years. My thought are with his mum and wife and the rest of the Swayze family.
Thank you sherry for this beautiful website devoted to loveley star’s i love both angelina & brad
Apparantly the whole family went to Africa!
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20304461,00.html
I love Angie’s voice!!!You can tell that this woman truly cares and wants to help those people just by listening to her voice!That voice comes from her heart!At least this is what I hear,a woman’s heart talking!!!She is truly an amazing woman!!!Love her!!!
Thanks Sherry!!!
It is wonderful the humanitarian efforts that angelina jolie pitt makes, she has it made yet she wants to help others. I think public service is wonderful and that fact that she exposes her children to the world is so educational and so value enriching. Amazing woman!
i love this insight into my favorite actress’ life. better than stories about fighting and jealousy and split ups. it’s nice to learn about celebrities’ interests in arts, books even furniture! but i guess some people would rather read about personal lives they don’t have any business in. and i guess that sells more magazines why i do not know. hopefully, you will continue to cater to us because there are a lot of angelina fans out here who crave for more intelligent material and are interested in her good works.
I just read Angie´s book Notes from My Travels again during this summer and found it even more touching this time. Maybe she´ll publish another book of her recent trips soon. And I really wish that they would include some of those pics Brad has been taking while visiting Thailand and now Kenya. Those pics sure are a piece of art. He´s a great photographer (those pics of the whole family in W magazine prove that) although he´s just an amateur photographer. When he retires from acting one day he should really start thinking of a career either as a photographer or an architect. Both are close to his heart.
wow and wow!!! she is there.