The honest, touching notes from this one-of-a-kind journey changed Angelina Jolie’s worldview as well as her inner world.
Angelina Jolie is not only an actress, film director, she is also a Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). She travels to lands of war and armed conflict, where millions of people are victims of the world’s most brutal violence.
The Diary of Trips records Angelina Jolie’s thoughts and experiences during her trips to Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Pakistan, Cambodia and Ecuador. There, she lived and worked with her whole heart with refugees, witnessing the dire and traumatic consequences of violence and war.
From there, I felt the warm humanity in extreme circumstances, the courage to fight as well as the noble hearts of the people who bravely fought for survival.
According to Jane Goodall, UN Ambassador for Peace: “Angelina’s notes chronicle her awakening as a humanitarian and I hope that it will inspire the reader to act as well. moving”.
Good things happen right in the middle of terrible places
On every page of Angelina Jolie’s notebooks there are always some really good stories about what everyone is trying to do together. The refugees, who have no future, have endured so much suffering, are strangely courageous. They had a strength, a belief that someone with an ordinary life like her could not feel deeply.
The images she saw left her shocked, angry, hurt, and helpless. At the same time, she admires the people in those lands because, through so much suffering, they still persevere in life. “I feel small among these brave people,” wrote Angelina.
In the midst of that hardship and suffering, people are daily struggling with the task of survival, they are desperate, but they still do not stop hoping, constantly relying on each other, to survive.
In the settlement of Sierra Leone, she recorded a performance by a group of Burundian drummers. Three men and about five children gathered together. Men are starting to teach the next generation. They do not want their cultural identity to be lost.
Their group of people drummed and danced to bless Angelina, for her it was “the most wonderful sounds”, “they wish me a good life”.
The actions of the refugees in that difficult situation made Angelina grateful to accept, and forever remember.
Becoming a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, life has become different, with going to places in need, meeting people who are brave enough to live, Angelina has made new friends, deep insights about life. life, and above all, respect and emotion.
“Overcoming sadness and guilt, these people accept the realities of life and are grateful for all they have,” she wrote. I’m proud to have them as friends.”
“They understand things about life that many of us will never understand, and they focus on many of the things we have forgotten. They know what to appreciate. They understand the importance of family and community. They understand the power of faith and love.”
Children’s peaceful dream
During her visit to Pakistan in 2001, talking and listening to the stories of refugees, especially children, she recorded truthfully with the desire to realize the dreams of peace of the people here.
She recorded a conversation with a little girl, when asked what she wanted, the child replied: “I want peace. I want to go back to Afghanistan. I want to go home.”
The Afghan refugees here have all experienced the terrible terror of the Taliban. Afghanistan is one of the two most landmine-covered countries in the world.
While visiting the refugee camp’s Vocational Center for Disabled Children, Angelina offered to buy a pair of shoes, but they insisted on giving them away. “Here people don’t take money. We value acts of goodwill and humanity. That’s the way to pay.”
Each of Angelina’s notes is authentic, not only sharply depicting the images she saw, the stories she witnessed and experienced, but also the desire to awaken hearts around the world to act, for the dream. the peaceful dreams of millions of children suffering around the world.
Angelina watched the childish smiles affectionately, lovingly. She kept those smiles carefully on every page. The smiles that always shine on the thin, stained, hungry eyes are a wake-up call for every person in this world. We all need action.
Angelina’s journey is also a journey of awakening for each of us, because it gives us a more careful observation of a world that exists every day and every hour but we either ignore it, or don’t know it, or see it. is the farthest part from myself.
Angelina in her book Diary of Travels urges people to look directly into that part of the world that suffers, so that we can appreciate what we have, and urges us to be willing to do something for the world. This.
Currently, UNHCR has taken care of more than 20 million people. An estimated 8 million are children under the age of 18. What do they crave?
Have we ever listened to the peaceful call from the minds of those children. Angelina has spoken, once again, with her voice, calling us to action, for a truly peaceful world.
This is a must-read, a must-read, for anyone living in this world. Translator Hoang Anh Kapi also shared with readers: “This is a book worth reading, to be able to understand more about the world we live in, understand more about the past, and also to preserve our peace. present and building a peaceful future for the world”.
