Angelina Jolie Watch

I forgot to mention this but the forum was co-sponsored by Angie’s group Education Partnership for Children of Conflict. She founded the group with Gene Speerling last year as part of the 2007 Clinton Initiative. In this video from Tuesday’s conference, she’s talks about how transformative education can be to a child of conflict.

To read additional facts about children of conflict click below. I am eternally grateful to Angelina for her continued education on this subject. (more…)

Rumors started swirling yesterday that Angelina might join brother James Haven on the Hill to lobby for Global Action for Children. That was sorta right.

Today, the Washington Post confirmed that Angie is in DC. She, Pax and Maddox were spotted at the Air and Space Museum yesterday where lots of tourist took photos at a respectable distance. Mad wore a navy blue hoodie while Pax sported an olive green jacket. Pax also asked a lot of questions as the brothers toured Space Hall, Skylab and the WWI and WWII exhibits. (Guess he’s wells versed in English now.)

Angie was actually in town to attend last night’s Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards gala. She’s also expected to be at the Council on Foreign Relations today. According to Policy Director Leila Nimatallah “She might” help James with the lobbying effort.

Marianne Pearl was one of the women honored at the Vital Voices Event for her reconcilliation work after the the death her her husband.

Here’s a bit ‘o information that I didn’t know. James is actually a youth pastor at “Saddleback Church, the SoCal evangelical megachurch run by Purpose-Driven Life author Rick Warren.” I knew he was a devout Christian but I had no idea he’d gone into ministry. He’s also on the advisory board for Global Action for Children. These two really have done their mom proud.

Updated while posting. Angelina was indeed at the Council on Foreign Relations. See photos above and after the cut. She really is getting big. Wonder when this baby is due.

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Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt contributed over $8 million to the Jolie-Pitt Foundation in 2006 according to their federal tax returns. Brad donated $4,402,317, and Angelina gave $4,123,613. The fund dispensed a little over $2 million to worth causes. Here’s how it broke down:

• $1 million to Doctors Without Borders (International Division)
• $1 million to the Global Action for Children.
• $137,935 to the Namibia Red Cross Action Program
• $100,000 to the Daniel Pearl Foundation
• $100,000 to Global Green U.S.A.
• $100,000 to Epidermolysis Bullosa Medical Research.(Epidermolysis Bullosa is a rare genetic disorder characterized by the presence of extremely fragile skin and recurrent blister formation, resulting from minor mechanical friction or trauma) Interesting to note that Cortney Cox and hubby David Arquette also support this cause.
• $20,000 went to an art park in Los Angeles. (If anyone knows the name of the park please let us know)
• $5,000 donations went to two orphanages that Angelina visited

These folks really do put their money where their mouth is.

Note:  Sorry for the delay in posting.  I’ve been ill. Thanks for your continued support.  It means a great deal.

Global Action for Children will hold two conference on grassroots advocation. The first call will be held on Tuesday, 11/27 , at 11:30 a.m. EST

To participate, dial 1-712-432-2777 and use access code 217445.

Their will be an identical call on Thursday, November 29, at 8:00 p.m. EST.

Global Action for Children is a nonpartisan, results-oriented coalition dedicated to advocating for orphans and other vulnerable children in the developing world. Angelina helped the organization officially launch back in April.

At the time Angelina said, “The numbers associated with this problem are staggering. It is overwhelming and the scale of the problem seems to give many an excuse for inaction. In many ways it is better to think of these children one by one - each deserving of our care and attention, each being of equal value, and each being a test of whether justice - or injustice - will prevail.”

According to GAC, there will be 20 million AIDS orphans worldwide by 2010. Millions more will be orphaned by other preventable diseases such as tuberculous and malaria. Around the world, approximately 120 million primary school-aged children are out of school, and the vast majority are girls. Last year Brad and Angelina gave $1 million to GAC.

I know that the cause of children world wide is daunting but things like this conference call are the first step to being informed and taking action. I really appreciate organizations  that create opportunities for us non millionaires. Every little bit we are able to do helps.  We CAN change the word one person at a time.

angelina jolie, global action for children, children, orphans, AIDS