Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in Syria

Sometimes it seems like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie never fail to surprise people. While we all thought they were relaxing at their home in the South of France it turns out that the Jolie-Pitt couple were in Syria for a UNHCR mission.

Angelina Jolie on a prior UNHCR mission in Kenya. Newscom

Angelina has been to Damascus, Syria before to visit with Iraqi refugees and she was there again on Friday to plead that the world not forget about them. The UNHCR article explains that while there’s a certain improvement to the sense of security in Iraq there are still hundreds of thousands of refugees who feel that they can not return home.

As always, when the news stops focusing on a country so much, people tend to forget about the refugees who come from that country and Angelina wants to make sure that doesn’t happen. She spoke about the current refugee situation and said:

“Most Iraqi refugees cannot return to Iraq in view of the severe trauma they experienced there, the uncertainty linked to the coming Iraqi elections, the security issues and the lack of basic services. They will, therefore, be in need of continued support from the international community.”

Both Brad and Angelina visited the homes of two Iraqi families living in Syria to hear their stories. One family just fled their homeland this summer after their son was abducted twice and the wife once. The wife’s story is terrible and terrifying: “I was assaulted every day for 13 days by up to 10 men. I wanted to kill myself and the only reason I decided not to go ahead is because of my children.” The abductions totaled $65,000 in ransom payments and then they ran.

Although the Iraqi refugees have been luckier than others in that Syria has proven to be a welcoming country, it’s obviously difficult to be forced out of your own home and to be displaced for unknown periods of time. The other family with whom Brad and Angelina spent time include a mother, a father, and five children under the age of seven, with the entire family living in a tiny one-room basement apartment with just a tiny window; the only things they currently own have been provided by relief efforts.

Angelina spoke out saying that due to the trauma these refugees have faced, from abductions to torture, and more, most have still not recovered and she insisted that, “until other solutions are found, or these refugees are able to go home, it is essential that the international community help UNHCR to provide financial and food support so that they can survive. They don’t have the right to work, so they have no way of surviving without our help.”

It’s such a difficult thing to imagine, to be able to understand how refugees are forced to live, through no fault of their own. I’m so grateful that we have someone like Angelina Jolie as the UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador to help draw attention to the people who need it most.

Read the rest of the article over here. It includes a photo of Angelina talking with the woman who had been abducted as well as an absolutely beautiful photo of Brad spending time with some refugee children.

You can also see two photos of Brad and Angelina walking in Damascus – one is here and the other is here.

The tabloids can have their fun; the real truth is that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are too busy doing good things for people to care at all.