MySpace Exclusive – Joel Madden travels to Africa with UNICEF

Update: here’s a video from the Richie Madden Children’s Foundation myspace of their trip

Twin brothers Joel and Benji Madden spent a week in the Central African Republic at the end of November. In Touch has the details and the photos. The 29 year-old musicians are goodwill ambassadors for UNICEF and are bringing awareness to the need for clean water in the war torn region. The Central African Republic is bordered by Chad, Sudan, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon. It is one of the poorest countries in the world, and according to Wikipedia it’s one of the ten poorest countries in Africa. One in five children dies in childhood in the country due to lack of clean water.

Benji and Joel lived in a small village and were very touched by the children they met. It was their first trip for UNICEF. It seems like they’re sincere about their effort to help and that they put in the time and effort to learn more and make a difference:

[Joel and Benji Madden] spent a week in November… living in a village in the Central African Republic, where day-to-day survival is a struggle. “They didn’t know who were are other than we were there to help,” Joel tells In Touch in an exclusive interview about his first trip to Africa as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador.

He notes that clean water is the main problem in the region, causing the deaths of one in five kids under 5. Monty to restore wells will help, but conflict resolution is also critical. “It makes it hard to live healthy lives when they are constantly having to flee,” says [Joel], adding that the village was attacked by rebels after he and Benji left.

Memories that will stay with him are of parents talking about their children in terms of living and dead, teaching the kids to play hide-and-seek, and the night he woke to beating drums under a starry sky. “I was probably the furthest I’ve been from home, geographically and culturally,” he says. “It was one of those moments that you look at your life and think about who you are and what you’re about. It was a good moment.”

“I’m not a big crier,” admits Joel, but he teared up when he got home to LA, where he lives with Nicole Richie and their daughter, Harlow, 11 months. “Every time I wash my hands or take a drink, I think how lucky my daughter is to grow up never having to think about where the water is coming from or how much she can use.”

[From In Touch, print edition, December 22, 2008]

In Touch notes that the Richie-Madden Children’s Foundation is working with UNICEF to help fund drinking water projects worldwide. This article really touched me. These guys didn’t have to spend a week of their lives in Central Africa to make a difference – they didn’t even have to visit. Instead they took the time and made a personal sacrifice to learn more firsthand. They didn’t issue a press release to People or anything either, the news may have been out but this is the first time I have heard about it and only In Touch has this story.

Benji and his ex girlfriend, Paris Hilton, visited South Africa this spring and included a stop at an orphanage, where Paris autographed 8×10 photos of herself in a bikini for the children. They were in the country for a performance by Benji and Joel’s band, Good Charlotte, and stayed in luxury accommodations. I doubt Paris would have been able to hack a few days at a remote village and I would bet Benji was changed enough by his trip this November to help hasten the end of their relationship.

Here are some tiny photos of their trip from HDTPCAR.net, the The Humanitarian and Development Partnership Team of the Central African Republic. Joel is shown on the left holding a baby. He said in In Touch that the little boy in red behind him followed them around “the whole time” and “when we left, he cried. It was really rough.” Benji is shown playing his guitar. You can see larger photos of their trip in the latest issue of In Touch with “It’s a Girl” for Brad and Angelina on the cover. (That story says they’re adopting a girl from Ethiopia now, which sounds like BS as there aren’t a lot of details to support it. Let me know if you want me to report it.)

Header is of Joel and Benji at Diesel’s 30th Anniversary in NY. Credit: Janet Mayer/PRPhotos