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- June 19, 2009 (Added)
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Standing ovations underscored an emotional ceremony Thursday marking World Refugee Day with some of ...Standing ovations underscored an emotional ceremony Thursday marking World Refugee Day with some of them led by Angelina Jolie. The star, along with the rest of the audience, was visibly moved as they heard firsthand stories from refugees who have been relocated to the United States. They were also able to cheer, via Internet camera, along with students from a school in a Chad refugee camp.
Due to unexpected circumstances, some expected guests were not able to make the Washington, D.C., event. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had broken her elbow in an accident, while scheduled host Anderson Cooper suffered flight problems, leaving Ann Curry to fill in.
Jolie, obviously choked up with emotion, said of the refugees, "Most of all they are survivors ... They are the most impressive people I have ever met."
Tales of Survival
Recalling a 2001 trip for the United Nations Refugee Agency to Afghanistan, during which she talked with an expectant mother of two, Jolie recalled, "Before we said goodbye to the pregnant lady, she pointed to her young boy with such a sad look and she said, 'He's always asking for more food, and it hurts me to say, "We have none.'' ' A few weeks later the war in Afghanistan began."
Later in the hour-plus program, Jolie and the rest of the audience sat captivated as honoree Rose Mapendo, a single mother held captive in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for 16 months during that country's civil war, recounted being forced to witness the torture and execution of her husband, and giving birth to twin sons on the cement floor of her cell.
After the presentation, Mapendo, Jolie and the head of the U.N. Refugee Agency, Antonio Guterres, joined other American and international dignitaries for lunch. Thursday evening, all three will reunite for a gala celebration for UNHCR before Jolie and her children leave D.C. to head back to Los Angeles, where Brad Pitt is filming Moneyball.
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20286065,00.html
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Angelina Jolie brings attention to plight of refugees
Angelina Jolie was on a stage Thursday but wasn't performing. Instead, she paid tribute to the millions of uprooted people across the globe made homeless by war.
Angelina Jolie said that sheltering countries can learn from the way refugees survive their difficulties.
A U.N. goodwill ambassador, Jolie was in Washington to observe World Refugee Day, an annual event that falls on Saturday this year. The poignant ceremony was sponsored by the United Nations refugee agency.
Tears flowed as refugees and displaced people shared their harrowing experiences and advocates related what they'd seen in refugee camps.
"I believe we must persuade the world that refugees must not be simply viewed as a burden," she said. "They are the survivors. And they can bring those qualities to the service of their communities and the countries that shelter them."
Jolie spoke of her visits to refugee camps in Tanzania and Pakistan.
She met a boy about 15 years old in a Tanzanian refugee camp who, without a wheelchair, had to crawl since a shot in the back paralyzed him. His family was killed, leaving him as an orphan. Yet when he spoke with her, he did it with a smile.
"He had this really remarkable, unbreakable spirit," she told CNN's Anderson Cooper after the event at the National Geographic Museum.
"I think of him and I can't complain about anything ... he was grateful and he had nothing and suffered everything."
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/06/18/world.refugee.day/index.html
Due to unexpected circumstances, some expected guests were not able to make the Washington, D.C., event. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had broken her elbow in an accident, while scheduled host Anderson Cooper suffered flight problems, leaving Ann Curry to fill in.
Jolie, obviously choked up with emotion, said of the refugees, "Most of all they are survivors ... They are the most impressive people I have ever met."
Tales of Survival
Recalling a 2001 trip for the United Nations Refugee Agency to Afghanistan, during which she talked with an expectant mother of two, Jolie recalled, "Before we said goodbye to the pregnant lady, she pointed to her young boy with such a sad look and she said, 'He's always asking for more food, and it hurts me to say, "We have none.'' ' A few weeks later the war in Afghanistan began."
Later in the hour-plus program, Jolie and the rest of the audience sat captivated as honoree Rose Mapendo, a single mother held captive in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for 16 months during that country's civil war, recounted being forced to witness the torture and execution of her husband, and giving birth to twin sons on the cement floor of her cell.
After the presentation, Mapendo, Jolie and the head of the U.N. Refugee Agency, Antonio Guterres, joined other American and international dignitaries for lunch. Thursday evening, all three will reunite for a gala celebration for UNHCR before Jolie and her children leave D.C. to head back to Los Angeles, where Brad Pitt is filming Moneyball.
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20286065,00.html
________________________________
Angelina Jolie brings attention to plight of refugees
Angelina Jolie was on a stage Thursday but wasn't performing. Instead, she paid tribute to the millions of uprooted people across the globe made homeless by war.
Angelina Jolie said that sheltering countries can learn from the way refugees survive their difficulties.
A U.N. goodwill ambassador, Jolie was in Washington to observe World Refugee Day, an annual event that falls on Saturday this year. The poignant ceremony was sponsored by the United Nations refugee agency.
Tears flowed as refugees and displaced people shared their harrowing experiences and advocates related what they'd seen in refugee camps.
"I believe we must persuade the world that refugees must not be simply viewed as a burden," she said. "They are the survivors. And they can bring those qualities to the service of their communities and the countries that shelter them."
Jolie spoke of her visits to refugee camps in Tanzania and Pakistan.
She met a boy about 15 years old in a Tanzanian refugee camp who, without a wheelchair, had to crawl since a shot in the back paralyzed him. His family was killed, leaving him as an orphan. Yet when he spoke with her, he did it with a smile.
"He had this really remarkable, unbreakable spirit," she told CNN's Anderson Cooper after the event at the National Geographic Museum.
"I think of him and I can't complain about anything ... he was grateful and he had nothing and suffered everything."
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/06/18/world.refugee.day/index.html
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