Read an Excerpt
Notes from My Travels
Visits with Refugees in Africa, Cambodia, Pakistan and Ecuador Excerpt
Introduction
I was asked to write an introduction to my journals, to explain how my journals came to be, why my life took this direction, and why I decided to start it.
As I try to find the answers, I am sure of one thing: I am forever changed. I am so grateful I took this path in my life, thankful that I met these amazing people and had this incredible experience.
I honestly believe that if we were all aware, we would all be compelled to act.
So the question is not how or why I would do this with my life. The question is, how could I not?
Many nights I sat awake reading stories and statistics about national and international tragedies.
I read about UNHCR:
More than twenty million refugees exist today.
One-sixth of the world's population lives on less than one dollar a day.
1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water.
One-third of the world has no electricity.
More than 100 million children are out of school.
One in six children in Africa dies before the age of five.
I read about different organizations that do humanitarian work. I had been reading about Sierra Leone when I was in England. When I got back to the States it was difficult to follow the stories, so I called USA for UNHCR and asked if they could help me understand the situation there and similar situations elsewhere in the world. Three weeks later I was in Sierra Leone.
I don't know how this will be as a book, how readers will find it. I am not a writer. These are just my journals. They are just a glimpse into a world that I am just beginning to understand, a world I could never really explain in words.
Copyright © 2003 by Angelina Jolie(Continues...)
Excerpted from Notes from My Travels by Jolie, Angelina Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.