Last week, Angelina Jolie was promoted to “Special Envoy” to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees. Jolie has been the goodwill ambassador to the UNHCR for more than a decade, and her new “special envoy” position gives her more power, more responsibility, and probably more work. Late last week, Angelina and her family headed off to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. I wondered if they were just on vacation, or if they had some kind of official business there, and it looks Angelina was attending to some UNHCR duties while in the area. Jolie met with Colombian refugees living in Ecuadorian camps. You can see more photos of her trip here.
Angelina Jolie mixed business with pleasure on Sunday during a tour to the San Miguel River between Ecuador and Colombia. In her new role as the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Special Envoy, Jolie met with a 71-year-old woman in the village of Barranca Bermeja which hosts 50 families, 60 percent of which are Colombian refugees.
At one point she chatted to local bean farmer, Plinio, who is part of an agricultural project to encourage self sufficiency and improve nutrition in the community. He took her through the local jungle as he talked her through their struggles, while Angelina ditched her glamour for some wellies and a rucksack.
Angelina was dressed all in black and wore rubber boots for the muddy terrain and listened intently as the woman spoke and she made sure to take notes. The Oscar-winner got in the pleasure part of her trip by traveling with fiancé Brad Pitt and their six children for a tour of the nearby Galapagos Islands.
During her work as UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, Jolie has “conducted more than 40 field visits around the world” but will now focus on “large-scale crises resulting in the mass displacement of people,” an announcement from the Agency said.
Angelina, 36, visited the region to meet up with the High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres. It is the first trip for the star since Guterres named her special envoy earlier this month,.
The Tomb Raider star met up with Ecuador’s Foreign Minister, Ricardo Patino, during her trip to the country. They were spotted walking together as they chatted and headed to a meeting in Quito on Sunday to promote the ‘Thanks Ecuador’ campaign in recognition of their help with refugees.
UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said last week: “Angelina Jolie is expected to focus on large-scale crises resulting in the mass displacement of people, to undertake advocacy and represent UNHCR and Mr. Guterres at the diplomatic level, engaging with relevant interlocutors on global displacement issues.”
Good for Angelina. She’s made very few UNHCR trips so far this year, and I always find WHERE she goes interesting – obviously, we hear more about African refugee crises, and the ticking time bomb of displaced Afghans and Pakistanis, and while Jolie has devoted a lot of time to the higher profile crises, she also brings attention to oft-forgotten or lesser-known crises too. You can read more about the UNHCR’s work around the world here.
Photos courtesy of WENN, the UNHCR.
Sigh
Maybe they sell really pretty wedding dresses in Ecuador for cheap…
What should Angelina wear when she marries Brad? Are you kidding me? She has already been married twice, and is a middle-aged mother of six…Brad already had his fairy-tale wedding with Jennifer. It was magical – they were young, innocent, beautiful and in love. Angie, move on and stop trying to upstage Jen. That ship has sailed. What are you going to do? Wear a poofy white dress and register for china at William Sonoma? Go away and marry quietly, and donate the money to Ecuador!
Good for her.
hmmmmm where did Chelsea Handler go…oh on a drinking binge..
different strokes for different folks.
I think Brad was with her but not on the actual visit. Saw pics of them heading off the island.
You are naive if you think that people give a shit about Ecuador. They are only looking at her, what’s wearing, with who she was there, etc.
Wowww you have the ability to foresaw that ALL THE PEOPLE in this whole world would not give a damn at all about Ecuador after looking AJ goes there? Not even one person would care or get inspired to do something with their own community or even to just check about it more?
I do not realize ALL the people in this world would only care about is what a celebrity wearing, the make up, the jewelery, etc.
Your ability to read the mind of billions people is AMAZING!!! 😉
I’m not talking about “ALL THE PEOPLE in this whole world” because I don’t think people in Africa or North Korea give a shit about Angie in Ecuador. I’m talking about shallow nations like Americans or Britons who are obsessed with tabloids and gossip blogs. And do you really think that these readers give a shit about situation in Ecuador? Keep dreamin. They don’t even know where it is.
@Jennifer: Project much?
@jennifer :Wooowww… now you know for sure everyone in the UK or States are shallow for checking out tabloids and gossip blogs. With that being said, you are still amazing for knowing for sure nobody in this world would give a shit at all. I don’t even have the confidence saying no one in other country would care or at least checking out to find out where is Ecuador.
By the way, since you are in a gossip sites, where are you come from again??? 😉
Jennifer: so because you don’t give a shit, no one gives a shit?
Well read the comments below. Jennifer is right.
You know, a lot of people who come to this site are educated and we do know where Ecuador is. Just because we come here doesn’t mean we only care about celebrities and are not interested about what’s going on in other nations; so speak for yourself. Whenever there’s a post about Jolie’s UNHCR work there is usually a link to the UN website where you can donate money and know what’s going on. I, for one have donated and found out about the plight of refugees through here. So ha!
i’m sleepy so tl;dr. is it me or does her upper lip look asymmetrical? filler issues perhaps?
It’s you.
still the right part of her upper lip looks bigger than the right to me. maybe it was captured that way or maybe lip fillers reduce sensitivity so you can’t really feel if you suck your lip. i heard a model with collagene lips say that.
she doesn’t need collagen. It’s likely the photo.
if you compare her old photos, her upper lip wasn’t as thick but her below lip was a bit sagging at the bottom. i can’t find the right words to describe it but it’s on some sites with plastic surgeon opinions describing the work done to her lips. i don’t see the need to deny it, hers is one of the best jobs i’ve seen it looks completely natural and compliments her face. besides all actresses and models get them nowadays, what’s the big deal?
a sandwich and some sun would do her some good. she should go on a real vacation, no kids, no brad, and eat, drink, tan, and maybe dye her hair a few shades darker, she would come back looking 10 years younger. i love angie but it seems like she is just shriveling away in more ways than one…
I think Angelina keeps herself covered up when she’s in the sun on purpose. I saw recent pics and Angelina had a huge hat on pretty much shielding herself from the sun.
Good Gawd. Eat, drink, tan? Dye her hair? Take a vacation without the family? Maybe she should go to Cabo and waste perfectly good oxygen with Chelsea Handler & Jennifer Aniston.
wow! those are really some shallow ideas. Did you ever stop to think that maybe she likes what she’s doing? Not everyone have the emptiness of mind to live only to catch some tan and booze…
wow! and that’s a really judgmental comment…vacation is shallow? emptiness of mind? if some one is so busy helping others they are running themselves down, they may need to seek balance. i suggested some time away for herself to indulge and try some things that may help her to look more relaxed and gain weight. enjoy your serious ass day.
Have you ever seen Aniston or her chums on vacation visiting any cultural sites while they are on vacation? Ever? Ever?
There is much more to vacation and travel than drinking and tanning. They remind me of college students on spring break.
She’s too busy living her damn life, doing what she’s passionate about, and caring for her family and man to give a flying f-k what all the negatrons have to say about her. Love it!
Ha! Negatrons, I love it.
beautiful as always. handler n aniston can eat their hearts out!
I’m glad that she and Brad are using their star-power to bring some good to bad places on earth. It’s impressive how she’s able to balance global responsibilities, with family and a career. Team Angie
I think she does tries hard to bring attention to problems affecting other countries…good for her. That being said…I just don’t like her.
mel whenever I read a post from someone who evidently has never met Angelina say that they just don’t like her I have to think that the only thing that she does very differently from anyone else in Hollywood is that she lives and practices an acceptance of all human beings in her life. This includes her diverse children . I believe you and others who have problems with her really have a racist core.
@ carolynlee
Have a seat & stop with the assumed racist remarks. UGH!!
To make such an assumption and immediately scream racist actually says more about you than about people who have a weird feeling about Jolie’s earth-mother saintly image.
Judgmental much? Jesus…
Seriously? People who don’t like Angelina are racist now? Unbelievable.
Signed, racist jealous bitter fattie
Good God if I were wearing bare arms like she is, I’d be bitten to death by every insect there!
i think even mosquitoes take pity on her.
“hey, check that out! new blood!”
“dude! are you sure she’s got enough for herself let alone us!”
okay, juvenility aside, i am glad that at least she has concern-face on and that she looks the person she’s talking to in the eye and really looks like she has damns to give out to everyone.
for people who have long been not given a damn, i’m sure that even one person who comes and listens, sort of helps. i know there’s the burden and responsibility of following up and such like, but when you’ve gone unseen and unheard for a long time, a little is sometimes an any-news-is-good-news-situation.
i come from a country that some time ago (like 15 yrs) lot of people didn’t know where on the map it was located. a lot of people i come across would play guessing games and most got it wrong. but news began filtering out slowly. sometimes all the bad things got reported and none of the good things. but at least it put us on the map.
now looking at countries on the map is easier thanks to technology. most people with mobile phones can click a link in less than a second.
even if information such as (blah blah blah jolie, blah blah blah galapagos blah blah blah ecuador blah blah blah black clothing blah blah blah refugee) this one is useless to people, at least it stays on the back of their minds. hopefully.
btw, i was one of those people who always wrongly mistook galapagos and madagascar 🙂 i must remember that galapagos is not in africa.
I cannot imagine what Angelina has seen through her travels. And CH thinks Angie cares about what she thinks? Speaking of CH, I bet she’s so excited to maid of honor for JA and JT in July, being her very BFF. (per TMZ)
Jen, Chelsea and Huvane are losing it. Will Justin?
i saw this link at the bottom of Celebitchy website:
http://laineygossip.com/Articles/Details/23296/Brad-Pitt-Angelina-Jolie-with-kids-on-the-beach-Galapagos-Islands
apparently Angelina was wearing the same style of black dress as the one she wore in the Beach Picture that Changed It All way back when (the Africa picture with Brad, Angie, and Maddox).
Is that really the same dress?
Or did she order it especially for the anniversary beach photo op?
The only thing similar about the two dress is that they’re bot black. The new one is one shouldered and the old on was strapless, but continue with your snark.
actually, i finally gotten off my lazy arse and checked. and yes, apparently my mind was playing tricks with me.
i’m mixing at least two dresses in my mind and came up one dress short of snark.
i stand corrected 🙂
now, back to our usual broadcast.
You did a lot of research to show how wrong you were.. and why the heck did it matter so much.
I know that Brad Pitt donated money to New Orleans, but there’s plenty of problems here and plenty of kids that need adopting in the U.S. as well.
Where did it say they are adopting
and I think there are MILLIONS of people here in the USA.. Why not ask them to do something.
They are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Ask some of the other celebs that are not parents to start adopting.
Just curious.. are you an adopted parent. Are you saying this to your family members and church members. I’m sure you could find at least 10 homes for children in the USA..
please let us know how you progress.
Angelina looks very pretty without makeup. This is what happens when you take care of your skin…all the idiots were saying she needed at an after the academy awards, but all those tanned celebs look like crap without makeup.
Also, why do people complain about not helping out in the US? The situation in most places in Africa, Ecuador, etc. are MUCH worse than what’s happening in terms of social, political, and economic injustice in those third world countries. People whine about living in a trailer, well guess what, kids in Africa sleep out in the open, being bitten by malaria infested mosquitoes and survive on tree bark, whereas trailer living people still eat McDonald’s and crap.
Nothing wrong with staying OUT of the sun…she wont look 80 when she’s 40…i love fair skin
I really want to like her for trying to make a contribution to this world, but when she poses so hard with her face in these photo ops, its cringe worthy. Like, we get it, your trying really hard to listen and portray your understanding of these people who are so, so, so less fortunate than you, but can you lay off the frowns and nausea faces?
It’s really condescending and patronizing to the people who are actually living these lives with dignity. I mean, kudos to her for giving a f–k, but really, the attitude is so inappropriate.
How in the world do you know her “attitude”? Did you talk to her? If so please share.
You do realize that you are passing judgment based on a few milliseconds of photos being snapped?
She’s THERE. She’s showing respect just by being there and listening politely to their stories. There is NOTHING condescending or patronizing about it. If her facial expression isn’t to your liking then turn the page.
Your uninformed judgment is condescending, patronizing and inappropriate.
Very interesting comments. What do you want her to do?. Grin like a Cheshire cat?
I agree 100% with your following statements: “She’s THERE. She’s showing respect just by being there and listening politely to their stories. There is NOTHING condescending or patronizing about it. If her facial expression isn’t to your liking then turn the page. She’s THERE. She’s showing respect just by being there and listening politely to their stories. There is NOTHING condescending or patronizing about it. If her facial expression isn’t to your liking then turn the page.She’s THERE. She’s showing respect just by being there and listening politely to their stories. There is NOTHING condescending or patronizing about it. If her facial expression isn’t to your liking then turn the page.
Your uninformed judgment is condescending, patronizing and inappropriate.”
Your uninformed judgment is condescending, patronizing and inappropriate.
Your uninformed judgment is condescending, patronizing and inappropriate.
Ugh, I really can’t with the loonies. Maybe it is YOU that should be informed before you go the Twihard route. Over the years many celebrities have worked with the UN and several stand out as being able to visit and raise awareness for displaced people and victims of disasters or disease with smiles on their faces. That is what they are there to do-spread GOODWILL not PITY, because FYI, people don’t like to be pitied.
Look to the work of David Beckham or Mia Farrow for examples. Hell, even Shakira can do it. Whether in Asia, Africa or Haiti, they manage to share smiles with the groups they visit, no matter what their situation. Dear lord, one of the mottos of the refugee gooodwill agency is “Helping put a smile on their faces.”
Sharing a smile and positive energy shows more respect, compassion and reminder of life’s positive aspects than pity ever will. It shows you see them as equals in humanity. And my opinion is formed by years of observing the UN’s work, not a single photo op. Angelina’s smiles are rare and the frowns more pronounced. Maybe she is a better fit in the advocacy role than goodwill ambassador, but you people really need to get a grip.
sigh…so tired of angie posts becoming about other people. Likewise posts about jennifer or chelsea. can’t we just comment on the actual post itself anymore?