Angelina Jolie in Iraq (Not Jordan)

What Angelina is doing is tremendous. Reuters, AP, CNN and many other news agencies are reporting this. Angelina Jolie is one of the most googled people on the planet - literally. People who normally google Angelina Jolie will read about what she is doing and understand more about the human situation in Iraq.

If Angelina wanted to do this just for the publicity - she could do it by attending benefits like Raising Malawi. She doesn’t have to put her life at risk.

she’s such an inspiration.

respect !

# 36 African Girl @ 02/07/2008 at 9:40 am

Thanks Jared.

AJ is an inspiration.
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YES, she is. :)

………. @ 02/07/2008 at 10:06 am a huge meaningless ego inflation game for someone trying desperately for attention and to justify to the public, that excess attention to her loveless life

I hope you posted the above at all the threads JustJared posted for the Malawi benefit.

By the way, loveless life? Boy, if her life is “loveless” in your definition, then there is no hope for the rest of us. She has freakin’ Brad Pitt in her bed and in her life, for Pete’s sake.

Ha! @ 02/07/2008 at 10:13 am
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Angie HAS gotten ALOT of things done. She’s helped build a school in Kenya, she’s built a school and roads in Cambodia with the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Project. She’s also done this.

Liberian refugee women stitch together new future after Angelina Jolie skills course

LARGO CAMP, Sierra Leone, Feb. 23 (UNHCR) – There was an atmosphere of joy and jubilation in Largo refugee camp last week when 50 Liberian refugee women each received a sewing machine after successfully completing a sewing skills course, funded by UNHCR’s goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie.

“Today, our dreams have come true and for this we are very grateful. When we came to the camp, we did not know anything. But, with the skills that we have learned, we now know how to sew both for children and adults, we can return to Liberia and will be able to do something on our own,” said Sangay Kawala on behalf of the trainees.

At the graduation ceremony the refugees sang songs in praise of Angelina Jolie and UNHCR. The Goodwill Ambassador donated the funds for the sewing courses in four refugee camps in Sierra Leone, including buying some of the sewing machines distributed to participants. UNHCR also helped fund the sewing machine purchase in Largo camp.

“I would like to congratulate all of you on the completion of your training. You deserve the certificates and sewing machines,” UNHCR’s Kenema sub-office head Ibrahima Coly said to loud cheers and applause. Coly encouraged the refugees to use their sewing machines to help them stitch together a new future and help others.

The majority of the group and their families have signed up to repatriate back to Liberia shortly, joining some 50,000 Liberian refugees from around West Africa who have now returned home since the official repatriation started. Back in Liberia, their sewing skills will be crucial to help them restart their lives.

“The future is now in your hands. Please make the best use of it. I would also like to appeal to you to kindly assist to train other refugees or returnees who were not privileged to get the machines. I wish you all good luck in your future career,” Coly told the happy graduates.

The main aim of the sewing project was to build the capacity of refugee nursing mothers, improving their nutritional status by giving them skills to generate income, says training programme coordinator Magdalene Dakowa of Catholic Relief Services. Another aim was for the sewing groups in each of the camps to produce 500 baby clothes for refugee children.

The initial six-month training project started in January 2004. The course was so successful that the trainees went on to produce children’s clothes for both refugees and host communities as a way of continuing their career development. During this period the women in Largo camp were contracted to produce school uniforms by one of UNHCR’s partners. The graduation ceremony marked the conclusion of their career training.

Funds for the project were also used to help 500 other refugee women improve their backyard gardening, again to help improve the nutritional status of the refugees.

At the graduation ceremony, five trainers of the project – three men and two women – also each received one machine. One of the trainers, Isata Koroma, came from the host community.

“The sewing machine that I have received will help me and my family,” said Isata. “I am a single mother. My husband was killed in the war in my country, Sierra Leone, and it has been really difficult for me to take care of our seven children. I am very grateful for this assistance.”

There are eight refugee camps in Sierra Leone hosting some 46,000 refugees, with most coming from Liberia’s most devastated Lofa County. With the positive changes taking place in Liberia UNHCR is now actively promoting voluntary repatriation for an estimated 160,000 Liberian refugees still outside their homeland. Some 46,000 Liberian refugees remain in camps in Sierra Leone with Largo camp hosting 5,300 refugees.

By Sulaiman Momodu
In Largo camp, Sierra Leone

I admire this woman!!!.
Good for you Angie, you have a big heart. God bless you and your lovely family.
Thanks JJ for the new thread.

For all the people on here criticizing her work based on personal feelings, all I have to say is, so what? Who cares why she’s doing humanitarian work, at least it’s getting done. She’s doing a lot more than 99% of these lazy a$$ stars who’s only goal in life is to get one hit movie/album so they can party 24/7 and use rehab as a summer resort. Let the hate go, people!

Ha! @ 02/07/2008 at 10:13 am
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May 1, 2002

Angelina Jolie spreads goodwill in Namibia

WINDHOEK, Namibia (UNHCR) – Goodwill is in the air at Namibia’s Osire refugee camp. Between late March and mid April this year, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie visited and donated food, tents and sports equipment to the nearly 24,000 refugees there.

On March 23, Jolie joined the High Commissioner’s Representative in Namibia, Hesdy Rathling, at Osire camp while working on her new movie, “Beyond Borders,” in the country.

Osire camp, established in 1998, is home to mostly Angolan refugees. There, the Goodwill Ambassador met new arrivals, family groups, leaders of the women’s refugee organisation and nurses who briefed her on the running of the camp clinic.

After hearing about the enthusiastic sports teams at the camp, Jolie brought hundreds of volleyballs, basketballs, footballs and nets to be distributed to the refugees. This was in line with the discussion she held with High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers on the value of sports activities as a means of maintaining health and morale (Olympic Aid Roundtable, February 9, Salt Lake City).

Returning from her day with the refugees at Osire camp, Jolie said, “These people have amazing spirit and determination. I want to come back and spend more time with them.”

On April 13, Jolie and her production team donated 270 tents and several hundred items of bedding and mattresses to Osire camp. They also contributed 13.5 tons of food supplies including corn meal, wheat, sugar, salt and beans.

In addition, the Goodwill Ambassador made a generous personal contribution to UNHCR for projects benefitting refugees in Osire camp. These included education materials and support for the Women’s Centre. She told Rathling she will follow closely events which may allow a safe and peaceful return home for the Angolan refugees she now considers her friends.

Before leaving Namibia, Jolie also worked with the UNHCR video team to complete her narration of an updated version of “We Were There,” a 27-minute documentary offering a historical perspective of UNHCR’s work over the past 50 years.

She appears in the documentary alongside High Commissioner Lubbers, Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Olara Otunnu, Nobel Peace Prize winners Desmond Tutu and Rigoberta Menchu, as well as several former High Commissioners.

The documentary will be launched for global TV broadcast on World Refugee Day on June 20.

Ha
All you have to do is go to MJP maddox jolie-pitt project and UNHCR for her work factsheet and many other sites for her causes and you will see all that she has accomplished. Because she alone hasn’t resolved the middle east conflict then her being an ambassador is useless is it? Tell that to the people who have benefitted from her involvement and they will strongly disagree.I say the same to the other critics on this board. Look for facts and the information instead of being negative to those who do actually get involved no matter how big or small part they play.

Ha! @ 02/07/2008 at 10:13 am

gosh, stop being so paranoid and bitter.

I disagree with your analysis that Angelina didn’t achieve anything in her visit. You are talking about it - something you probably wouldn’t have done if Angelina hadn’t gone. And there are more people who are forced to take note that the situation is a big mess in Iraq, even whilst you try to forget about it by reading tablies.

Perhaps, if you are smart and you are an American, Australian or British, you will:

(a) think about the possible consequences when your president/ prime minister suggests invading another country for whatever reason - be it for oil, or to bring democracy or to destroy a tyrant.

(b) think about the reasons why many people in the middle east and Asia think that American foreign policy in Iraq has been such a desparate mistake.

(b) think whether, now that America/ Britain and Australia helped to bring about the mess in Iraq, whether you can just bring your boys home, like you’d like to do and leave the mess in Iraq, like seagull who flies in, sh*ts and leaves.

Because the people of Iraq never actually asked us to come and now don’t know whether they want us to stay or go. Should we try to clean up the mess?? People’s lives are at stake - not just in this generation but the next by the decisions we make. If we leave and the mess deteriorates, then remember the next time a bomb goes off targetting Australians, americans and the British. It may be we have helped to create this anger and this despair. Let’s try to make wiser choices this time.

Beautiful in and out.

Ha! @ 02/07/2008 at 10:13 am
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March 9, 2005

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie launches centre for unaccompanied children

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 9 (UNHCR) – Children fleeing persecution and arriving alone in the United States will now have better access to free legal counsel, thanks to the new National Center for Refugee and Immigrant Children in Washington, D.C.

The centre was launched on Tuesday by UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie, who last year donated $500,000 to the centre and who has been advocating for more than two years on the issue of unaccompanied children seeking asylum who are detained in the US.

Speaking to reporters at the National Press Club on Tuesday, Jolie said, “The point of all this is, when children cross into this country alone and they’re scared, we must hear them out before we make the choice to either allow them asylum in our country or send them away. It is unethical to not listen to these children. Because without legal representation we are sending children to court to represent themselves in a language that most of them don’t understand. And expecting them to recall accounts so frightening and humiliating, they wouldn’t want to tell anyone, let alone a room full of strangers.”

Each year more than 5,000 children from around the world arrive in the US unaccompanied by adults. Many of these children are asylum seekers who fled armed conflict and human rights abuses in their homelands, including forced recruitment of child soldiers, forced prostitution and servitude, sexual slavery and exploitation, child labour, abuse of street children, child brides and female genital mutilation. Some children come to the US because they have been abused, abandoned or neglected by their parents or caregivers.

A number of these unaccompanied children are apprehended immediately at airports or land borders upon arrival in the US because they lack proper documentation. Others are apprehended after crossing the border illegally. Many are trafficked into the US to work in sweatshops or prostitution rings.

In 2004, over 6,000 children arrived alone in the US and were placed in immigration removal proceedings. These children often go through complex immigration court proceedings alone, without lawyers. After being apprehended, children are placed in the custody of the Division of Unaccompanied Children’s Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Department of Health and Human Services. They are held in shelter facilities around the US and ORR works to get them released to families. About 3,000 children are released every year. Major destination cities include New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Houston and Dallas.

The Unaccompanied Alien Child Protection Act of 2005 offers the promise of systemic reform in the treatment of these children. Under this bill, there would be a greater emphasis on ensuring pro bono lawyers, and the children would be eligible for guardians. The law would also address remaining deficiencies in the immigration system’s treatment of children by requiring special training for immigration judges, prosecutors and pro bono attorneys. The bill has been reintroduced this session and has a great deal of bi-partisan support.

The newly-launched National Center for Refugee and Immigrant Children will support this bill by seeking lawyers willing to donate their time to help children access asylum and other forms of humanitarian protection. The centre is being implemented in partnership with the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants and the American Immigration Lawyers Association. The key to the success of this centre is the commitment of large law firms throughout the US to provide pro bono services in their communities.

By Lilli Tnaib
In Washington D.C.