Celebrities Making a Difference in the World With Humanitarian Efforts, Donations
For Angelina Jolie, it all started when she took a trip to Sierra Leone and Tanzania in 2001 to find out about the plight of Refugees. She took notes of her experiences there and officially became a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR (the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). Since that initial trip to Africa, Jolie has also spent time in Kosovo, Thailand, Russia, Jordan, and more recently to the Sudan. Jolie has said that she believes that many Americans just don’t know what is going on and that the US does not contribute as much as other countries around the world do even though we have more resources. Recently, Jolie’s journals written during her humanitarian trips were compiled in the book Notes from My Travels: Visits with Refugees in Africa, Cambodia, Pakistan and Ecuador which is now available through Simon and Schuster.
To learn more about Angelina Jolie’s work with refugees and to read her more recent journal entries (written after those included in her book), you can go to www.unhcr.org and click on the “Goodwill Ambassador” link.
If Angelina Jolie’s work inspires you, you can make donations to UNHCR or become one of their Interns. One-time donations as well as monthly gifts are available through the website.
Around the same time that Angelina Jolie journeyed to Sierra Leone and Tanzania, Oprah embarked on a project to brighten the lives of children in South Africa. She and Nelson Mandela created the ChristmasKindness program which gave toys and school supplies to 50,000 children in 2002. Her dedication to Africa has not stopped there. This year, Oprah visited South Africa to construct a school (The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls) which will help to empower young women to become leaders in their community and give them a safe, loving place to learn. The Oprah Winfrey Foundation plans to donate $10 million dollars toward the development of the academy. Oprah’s dedication is revealed in numerous episodes of her show-many of which have been aired in the last few months. In April, Oprah also aired a special on child rape in Africa, and more recently, Oprah invited George Clooney and Lisa Ling to speak on issues confronting the people of the Sudan and Uganda, respectively, who have been displaced from their homes due to military insurgence. Detailed information about these shows is available on Oprah’s website www.oprah.com.
If you wish to donate to Oprah’s Leadership Academy for Girls, you can go to www.oprah.com/uyl/grants/uyl_grants_main.jhtml or you can mail a check payable to Oprah’s Angel Network at Oprah’s Angel Network P.O. Box 96600 Chicago, IL 60693. Cash donations should be made through the website as they only accept checks and money orders by mail.
George Clooney has made waves from his ads for the One Campaign to his reports on the Sudan. Just a few years ago, the One campaign was created to end world poverty and fight AIDS. George Clooney is one of the notable spokesmen for the campaign, which advocates contributing 1 percent of the US budget (approximately $25 billion dollars) toward these issues. According to the official website www.one.org, our country contributes less than one percent of its annual budget towards these humanitarian issues while most of the Americans polled assume that the percentage is around 15%. In the last month, Clooney has stepped up his game as a pioneer for human rights by traveling to Darfur, Sudan where around 2 million people have had to move from their homes because the Sudanese government is systematically wiping out anyone who is not of Arab descent-whether they are militant rebels or starving children. George Clooney has publicly deemed this situation “the first genocide of the 21st century.” Unfortunately, the government will not allow UN officials into the area, so it is up to independent groups and advocates like Clooney to make the situation known.
To learn more about the crisis in the Sudan, please visit the Safe Darfur Coalition at www.savedarfur.org or The International Rescue Committee at www.theirc.org. Clooney also advises us to contact our congressperson or call the White House at 800-224-2084. Oprah’s website also has useful information about the special she aired with George Clooney titled The Shocking Story George Clooney Has To Tell. Go to www.oprah.com for more details or to view movie clips from George Clooney’s recent visit to the Sudan. You can also contribute to the One Campaign to end world poverty by signing a petition, buying a wrist band, or making a donation at www.one.org.
So now that you know what Angelina, George, and Oprah are up to, what will you do? How can you contribute or educate others so that these issues become more than just a brief bit of news connected to a celebrity?
