“We cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that there are millions of people living in misery. I really want to help,” the star Angelina Jolie shared on the day she was officially appointed as a goodwill ambassador. of the United Nations (UN).

The story of the famous actress Jolie has made the world admire for the past 20 years and it is no coincidence that she was appointed by the United Nations as a goodwill ambassador.

In fact, the story of Angelina doing charity is a process of struggling, getting out of the quagmire of her past to rise up and truly love the fates at the bottom of society.

Image source: ABC News

Addictive life

“I feel that I am too lucky and should do something to make this world less miserable”, Angelina Jolie once confided such words when being dubbed the “charity queen” of Hollywood.

Indeed, Jolie herself was born into a family of “born children” when her parents were both famous actors. Living in a well-off and supportive environment, Jolie started acting at the age of 7. At the age of 18, when many young ac tors were still struggling to make a living, she received contracts from large-scale films such as “Cyborg 2”.

However, Jolie’s life was not rosy when her parents had to separate. Although she lived with her father, the filming trips away from home made her lack of family affection and gradually fell into the path of addiction.

Since the age of 14, Jolie has lived with her boyfriend. She didn’t even hesitate to take hot pictures or try almost every stimulant before she was 20 years old.

Even when the movie “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” was produced and made Jolie an A-list star in the world, the filmmakers had to force her to take drug tests every day as well as request rehab.

In an effort to complete the film as required, Jolie did her best to give up drugs, and perhaps one of the factors that helped her forget her life of addiction was charity.

Truth and Truth

“When I went to Cambodia to film Tomb Raider in 2001, I felt that I still didn’t know much. This is a country where I don’t have to go anywhere because many places are full of landmines. Then I learned that the US had not signed a treaty. I started going and reading more. I read the document about the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Nearly 20 million people are in the interest of this organization. I thought, how is it possible? Is that okay?”, Jolie shared when remembering the time when she started to be interested in charity activities while filming and quitting drugs.

The more she read, the more Jolie realized that she had forgotten those less fortunate than herself. She realized that 1/6 of the world’s population is living on less than 1 USD a day. About 1.1 billion people are out of school globally and more than 100 million children worldwide are out of school.

It was these tragic fates that prompted Jolie to successfully quit drugs even after filming was completed, and at the same time put her on the path of charity, opening a new page of a star who used to be addicted.

In the same year 2001 when witnessing the tragic situation of the miserable people in Cambodia, Jolie decided to do something she had never thought of before: adopt an orphan.

A mother’s love prompted Jolie to give up her glamorous, luxurious image with parties and start traveling around the world’s refugee camps, becoming a representative and protector. for the weak.

Not only becoming a goodwill ambassador of the United Nations, actress Jolie also became an ambassador for many organizations or charities around the world such as UNICEF, ONE…

Jolie even founded the Jolie-Pitt Foundation with her husband to continue volunteering. Almost all of Jolie’s philanthropic activities are assessed as sincere and substantive, there have been no complaints about financial uncertainty.

Despite being busy with many big projects, Jolie still travels like a shuttle to distant lands. In 2002, the actress went to Tham Hin refugee camp in Thailand; to Ecuador, to Kosovo; visit the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. In 2003, she went to Tanzania, Sri Lanka. In 2005, she went to Pakistan to meet Afghan refugees…

 

Image source: UNHCR, CNN, Time

According to the United Nations, since becoming a goodwill ambassador, Jolie has performed nearly 50 missions in hot spots around the world, an extremely respectable number for an actor who switched to this field.

With that positivity, Jolie has been honored by many organizations as “Charity Queen” and is the first person in the world to receive the “International Citizen” award by the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA). Awarded.

Charity is not just talk

For Angelina Jolie, volunteering is more than simply representing, going to speaking conferences or adopting more children. She always kept in mind that she had to personally go to difficult places to feel and best understand the charity she was doing. Jolie herself wants to understand how to make her volunteer work more effective, more substantial, not just words or random money distribution.

“When I was in the refugee camp, my spirit was more relaxed than in any other place because I was surrounded by the truth, the family of the poor. I felt like I was truly human. In that country, people don’t know who I am. I feel useful because I can be willing to spend an entire day with them in poor conditions. I can help give a voice to those who cannot speak for themselves. voice for myself”, actress Jolie shared.

Queen Elizabeth II awarded Angelina Jolie the title of “Honorary Lady” (equivalent to the title of Knight) to Angelina Jolie for her contributions to the community, a title that very few Americans receive. Image source: Time

Indeed, Jolie’s charitable activities were not interrupted even when her marriage to husband Brad Pitt fell apart. The Hollywood actress continues to organize many social activities as a UN special envoy for refugees. Jolie was even appointed columnist on migration, conflict and human rights issues for Time magazine’s international edition.

During this Covid-19 epidemic season, the queen of charity is even more concerned about the poor and refugees who fall into difficult situations when the world economy is stagnant.

The consequences of this Covid-19 pandemic can have many negative effects on children in poor countries, such as child marriage, child labor, sex crimes, etc. .It’s very scary and we have to find a solution, take action,” Angelina Jolie said.