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Angelina
Jolie has recently returned from filming in Kenya where
she visited a refugee camp with a population of 80,000 people.
(Photo courtesy of UNHCR)
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DFN: DFN is
now honored to chat with award-winning actress and United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Goodwill Ambassador Angelina
Jolie. Ms. Jolie presently joins us from England, where she is
currently filming Tomb Raider II. This past week, her filming
took her to Kenya, where she also did work for UNHCR.
Ms. Jolie is also joined
here by two UNHCR officers. Shannon Boyd, the manager of the UNHCR
Goodwill Ambassador and Special Events Programs, has worked with
Ms. Jolie for the past few years. Rupert Colville is the senior
media relations officer and UNHCR spokesman. Welcome, all!
Angelina_Jolie:
Thank you!
Shannon_Boyd: Yes,
it is a pleasure to be here.
DFN: OK, we
will begin then. First question?
Harmony: How
would you compare the people you met in your travels with those
in your experiences in Hollywood?
Angelina_Jolie:
Well, it is not easy to explain briefly. Every country is very
different. But you always meet people who amaze you with what
they have gone through. They are amazing people; my favorite people.
Despite what horrors they have been through, they still smile
often. They also take care of each other and in these ways it
is obviously different.
They certainly live
in every moment completely. They live with what is absolutely
important and have no time for superficial things. They are hardworking,
kind; they are connected to something beyond themselves. There
was something someone pointed out to me which stayed with me:
In our [American] culture, when someone goes through a traumatic
experience, we kind of leave them alone to mourn; in these cultures
the people put those suffering in the center of the community
and take care of them. The strange thing is that these people
for all their hardship seem to smile a lot more than we do. They
cry a lot more, too.
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"The
strange thing is that these people for all their hardship
seem to smile a lot more than we do. They cry a lot
more, too."
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FireGirl: Do
you plan on writing a book about your experiences?
Angelina_Jolie:
My journals
are going to be published. I did a film, Beyond Borders,
which happens to deal with with real refugee situations.
I plan to do as much
as I can. I have been involved in a documentary about Colombia.
I have done PSAs [public service announcements] about unaccompanied
minors, who are children who arrive in a new country without
their parents and are having a tough time in the system.
LisaH: Do you
think that the film industry does a good job representing human
issues?
Angelina_Jolie:
I think unless it is a documentary, it can't be perfectly accurate.
Even a documentary misses things. I think the essence needs to
be the same. If the essence moves you to care or to act, it has
accomplished its purpose.
Giovann77: Do
you have contact with or collaborate with other actors turned
human rights activists?
Angelina_Jolie:
I have been
in the same room I am sure when we are working on the same project.
But I have not formally had meetings with them.
Shannon_Boyd:
I want to add that Angelina is involved in the gathering of all
UN ambassadors. There are some one hundred people helping the
UN through a occasional basis.
I want to emphasize
that we consider the ambassadors to be our partners in our communications,
objectives, and strategies. Their job is to help people not to
forget what is going on out there.
Shurak: How
did you first feel when you were contacted by the UNHCR? Were
you hesitant to take on the role of ambassador?
Angelina_Jolie:
The strange thing is that I am the one who contacted them. I first
went to the UNHCR to learn from them and about the cultures where
I was traveling I was really interested in the press staying away
and not being an ambassador.
When they asked me
to be ambassador, I was on a mission to Cambodia and was so grateful
and flattered that they considered me to be part of the organization.
The majority of UNHCR works so hard and are so dedicated; I was
nervous to try and represent their work but was honored.
Shannon_Boyd:
UNHCR was watching closely when Angelina did her initial travels.
The Goodwill Ambassador title is never bestowed lightly; people
bearing the title are not just the celebrities in the entertainment
business but are Nobel Prize winners, great literary figures,
and the like. It is a role given to the highest achievers. It
was an invitation that came with a recognition from UNHCR that
Angelina had already done significant work. The potential was
there for a long-term commitment.
Bjorn: What
is your schedule like? How often do you travel for UNHCR?
Angelina_Jolie:
It depends; recently
I was working and I only had a day off so I went and spent a day
in a camp. Sometimes it is just a day and sometimes it's two weeks.
RIMartinez:
Is the UNHCR capable enough of taking on such important projects
or should there be kind of a larger, more global "world-watch"
protecting human rights?
Angelina_Jolie:
I don't think any one person or any one organization should have
the final word. That being said, I am working for a better United
Nations. Nothing is perfect. You should never rely on only one
source, but rather rely on those you believe in the most.
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"I
found [in Sierra Leone] that I was useful just as
... as a person who was willing to work and help,
not because I was an actress. And that I needed to
know."
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DafneMuller:
What was the most meaningful moment in your work as goodwill ambassador?
Angelina_Jolie:
What meant the most to me is when I learned what I needed to know
the most: When I first went to Sierra Leone, nobody recognized
me. Once, when I was leaving years ago, some magazine had gotten
through to the office where I was working with coverage of me
and a movie I did, and everyone in the office started laughing,
surprised that it was me.
But I found that I
was useful just as me, as a person who was willing to work and
help, not because I was an actress. And that I needed to know.
None of the other stuff is important.
Leung80: Are
you going to build that school you were planning to build in Cambodia?
Angelina_Jolie:
I have built about ten schools in Cambodia and opened them as
well, which has been great.
SeanK: Would
you consider quitting acting as a career, so you can focus on
human rights issues more?
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"I
would love to quit acting, but I am aware I can do
more good as an actress than just working in the field."
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Angelina_Jolie:
I would love to quit acting, but I am aware I can do more good
as an actress than just working in the field. That is something
I have to accept. I am more successful as an actress and an activist
than just as an activist.
Throughout my acting
career, there has always been something missing; I had never felt
totally fulfilled until I started my work with UNHCR.
LisaGov: Are
you involved in any efforts to raise awareness about the plights
of refugees inside, and coming to, the US?
Angelina_Jolie:
Yeah of course. But people often confuse illegal immigrants with
refugees. There are many unaccompanied minors in the US. This
is an issue I am just trying to understand still.
I am the kind of person
who doesn't recognize borders. I don't understand why we think
it is okay to keep someone within one border when they are unable
to feed their family when they could be getting help somewhere
else. I don't see people as different so I don't understand the
idea of borders in this world.
Kimora: What
do you see as the main obstacle to people fully understanding
the importance of the work that needs to be done in these suffering
countries?
Angelina_Jolie:
Lack of information is a big one. There is a lot I should have
been aware of before I began my work with the UNHCR and I wasn't.
People assume they know what is happening in the world but they
really don't. Before I went to Cambodia, I had no idea about Pol
Pot and land mines; how that escaped me I have no idea.
Demi: It has
been said that young people of your generation are less involved
and interested in world affairs than in prior generations. Do
you find this to be the case? If so, what can be done about it?
Angelina_Jolie:
I don't know. If people of my generation still have hope then
there will be an uprising. There will be a new rebellion, instead
of being passive or self-absorbed.
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"That
is one of the enormous values of Angelina's [human
rights] work: she appeals to a generation."
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Rupert_Colville:
I think the polls show the younger generation is very unaware
of what is going on in the world. You know, it is the MTV generation.
In the old days all you would hear would be the news since that
was all that would be on the radio, but now there are so many
other distractions in the form of entertainment.
That is one of the
enormous values of Angelina's work: she appeals to a generation.
Some people would not see humanitarian causes if people like Angelina
did not call their attention to them. An example of this is a
16-year-old girl who had come across Angelina's work in UNHCR
and suddenly got very interested. She began writing me and she
began doing work of her own. She was very energetic; she exhausted
me by the end of the our correspondence. Now, she is getting people
involved in human rights work; one doesn't know how many times
an influence will be multiplied.
Angelina_Jolie:
Wow, I didn't know about this girl! I would love to get in contact
with her.
FKang8: Ms.
Jolie, how can we learn more about these issues? What Web sites
or books do you recommend?
Angelina_Jolie:
Well, as for Web sites, I always check the Human Rights Watch
Web site at www.hrw.org to keep
informed. Also, any UN site is good for information.
As for books, my favorite
book is Ain't
Nobody's Business If You Do, by Peter McWilliams. If you
read it, it speaks for itself.
LionEyes: From
all of your travels, what do you see as the most outstanding human
rights issue facing us today?
Angelina_Jolie:
That's a tough one. There are many: There is in the Ottawa convention
a treaty to ban land
mines and yet the US hasn't signed that treaty. Obviously,
there is no good use for them.
DFN: Why hasn't
the US signed the treaty?
Angelina_Jolie:
One argument is that is a constitutional right to bear arms. There
are other arguments for it as well.
Right now, I am the
process of purchasing a house for Maddox [Ms. Jolie's adopted
son] in Cambodia. I have to de-mine all the lands surrounding
it. And it scares me that I might miss one and he might run off
and play and step on it one day.
DFN: Thank you
so much for joining us today, Ms. Jolie. There are literally hundreds
of people who came today to the chat, and many questions that
we unfortunately do not have time for. Do you have any last statement
you would like to make?
Angelina_Jolie:
I just want to thank everyone for coming. I really didn't know
there would be so much interest. We should do this again sometime
soon!
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