Angelina Jolie brings attention to plight of refugees
Angelina Jolie was on a stage Thursday but wasn't performing. Instead, she paid tribute to the millions of uprooted people across the globe made homeless by war.
Angelina Jolie said that sheltering countries can learn from the way refugees survive their difficulties.
A U.N. goodwill ambassador, Jolie was in Washington to observe World Refugee Day, an annual event that falls on Saturday this year. The poignant ceremony was sponsored by the United Nations refugee agency.
Tears flowed as refugees and displaced people shared their harrowing experiences and advocates related what they'd seen in refugee camps.
"I believe we must persuade the world that refugees must not be simply viewed as a burden," she said. "They are the survivors. And they can bring those qualities to the service of their communities and the countries that shelter them."
Jolie spoke of her visits to refugee camps in Tanzania and Pakistan.
She met a boy about 15 years old in a Tanzanian refugee camp who, without a wheelchair, had to crawl since a shot in the back paralyzed him. His family was killed, leaving him as an orphan. Yet when he spoke with her, he did it with a smile.
"He had this really remarkable, unbreakable spirit," she told CNN's Anderson Cooper after the event at the National Geographic Museum.
"I think of him and I can't complain about anything ... he was grateful and he had nothing and suffered everything."
