ANGELINA Jolie and Brad Pitt spent Christmas in Namibia.

The couple went to the African nation where Shiloh — their four-year-old biological daughter — was born, staying for a week in a villa at the Naankuse Wildlife Sanctuary and Lodge in the village of Langstrand.

The family — which includes children Maddox, nine, Pax, seven, Zahara, five, and two-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne as well as Shiloh — arrived in the country on December 19, and reportedly spent their time on the beach as well as roaming in the nearby Nakuluft Mountains.

“They really enjoyed their trip,” a source said.

“They were able to mingle with locals, visit Swakopmund and go to the beach there and also the beach in their neighborhood.”

The family stayed with a host family, headed by Dr. Rudie van Vuuren, a famous physician, cricket player and conservationist and his wife Marlice.

Angelina and Brad spend Christmas every other year at a foreign destination, with the actress admitting recently she was looking forward to a festive adventure”.

“We’re going to travel with the kids and go to a random part of the world,” she said.

“We’re going to travel and have an adventure because that’s what we love to do.”

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie paid a visit to St. John’s Children’s Hospital in Springfield, Missouri on Dec. 30. Pitt and Jolie had just returned from a Christmas vacation in Namibia and stopped by to spend some time with Brad’s family in his hometown.

It’s wonderful that during this time of the season, this powerhouse couple is able to make time to spend with those less fortunate than themselves. It’s also great to know they are spending time with their families. Family is and always will be very important.

Last year Pitt and Jolie donated $1 million to St. John’s Foundation for Community Health. The pediatric cancer center of the hospital was named after Brad’s mother, Jane. It is now called the St. John’s Jane Pitt Pediatric Cancer Center. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s tour of the facility was joined by Pitt’s parents, Bill and Jane, and his brother, Doug.

Source: Gather

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassadors Angelina Jolie and Jesús Vázquez met in Spain this week and paid tribute to the staff of the refugee agency on its 60th birthday and to the people they help.

“In the week of UNHCR’s anniversary, I would like to highlight the strength and courage of the world’s refugees and [other] forcibly displaced people who are, for all of us, an example of generosity and dignity,” Jolie said during a visit Thursday to UNHCR’s Madrid office. “My thoughts go also to the dedicated UNHCR staff, who for many years have risked their lives to protect the lives of refugees.”

Award-winning actress Jolie was in Madrid to promote her latest film, “The Tourist,” and took the opportunity to meet UNHCR staff and discuss Spain’s asylum system, mixed migration flows into the country, resettlement and other important issues. She also heard about plans for the anniversary year.

Jolie met Vázquez, a popular TV presenter in Spain, and shared with him some of her experiences as a goodwill ambassador over the past decade. Since becoming a goodwill ambassador in 2006, Vázquez has been actively supporting awareness and fund-raising activities in Spain on behalf of refugees, including a charity art auction on Wednesday in Madrid.

UNHCR turned 60 on Tuesday. It was founded on December 14, 1950 to help Europeans displaced during World War II and was only expected to be in existence for three years. Today, it works around the world, helps millions of people and has an open-ended mandate.

Source: UNHCR

Angelina arrives at the prime minister’s house to meet Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, in Islamabad, Pakistan on Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2010. Jolie who is on Pakistan’s visit to meet flood victims.

Gallery Links:
- Meets Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina visited people displaced by the floods in northwest Pakistan at the Kandaro II Camp in Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Jolie visited Pakistan on September 7 to draw world attention towards the plight of 21 million people affected by the country’s worst-ever floods. The UNHCR is providing relief aid including shelter materials to those displaced by the disaster, which has killed 1,760 people.

Gallery Links:
- Visits Pakistan

A top official in Bosnia says Angelina Jolie is interested in supporting education and other projects to help young Bosnians and people who return to homes they left during the war.
Haris Silajdzic, chairman of Bosnia’s three-member Presidency, said after meeting the actress Sunday that she asked about ideas for projects she could support and they both concluded that “the absolute priority is education”.
The aim would be turn Sarajevo into a regional center of education, he said.
As UNHCR ambassador, Jolie visited Bosnia in April and drew attention to the plight of 117,000 people who haven’t able to return to their homes even though the Bosnia war ended 15 years ago.
Jolie was also inspecting filming locations as she plans to shoot a movie in Bosnia.

Gallery Links:
- Visits Sarajevo

HOLLYWOOD star Angelina Jolie, in Europe to promote her spy thriller Salt, has donated AU$110,448 to help refugees from Pakistan’s floods, UN sources told AFP.

A crowd of 1,000 fans engulfed the 34-year-old actress, who is also a goodwill ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, when she stepped out of a limousine in Paris on Tuesday evening clad in a short shiny number with plunging neckline for the French premiere of the movie.

A UNHCR source attending the gala screening said she had donated the sum to help relieve Pakistan, where aid has been short and slow in coming.

Source: Herald Sun