On Wednesday and Thursday last week, Angelina Jolie quietly visited Afghanistan to witness the repercussions of the returning refugees to the country. Jolie spent Wednesday in the Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan where more than 850,000 refugees have returned since the Taliban was removed in 2001. The massive return of people to the area has caused a great strain on the local resources and jobs are scarce. The people there are living in poorly constructed shelters and shabby tents, without education for their children or health services for anyone. Thursday Jolie visited Kabul where the influx of returnees has tripled the city’s population and overwhelmed it’s infrastructure. The poverty in the city in rampant and housing is inadequate, often non-existent as evidenced by the rise in homelessness.

Jolie’s two-day trip comes ahead of an international conference on return and reintegration to be held in Kabul next month. Co-hosted by Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UNHCR, the event will bring government ministries and donors together to see how the country’s absorption capacity can best be strengthened to support further repatriation.

The award-winning American actress is familiar with UNHCR’s Afghan operation, having twice visited Pakistan in recent years to see Afghan refugees there. But the visit on Wednesday and Thursday was her first to Afghanistan to see the reintegration challenges inside the country.

“The courage, resilience and quiet dignity of returnee families rebuilding their lives against the kind of adversity few of us can imagine shows the human spirit at its best,” Jolie said after visiting a number of sites.

Angelina has released a video appeal for increased support of the refugees and the overtaxed land. Her video is moving and delivers important information about the situation. Jolie is villified for her personal life, but this appeal is about the people of Afghanistan and the awful conditions they’re living in. Angelina is moved to tears by the anguish of an old man in Nangarhar, attentively comforts a sick child and is clearly concerned for a mother and her three young children. It means something to these people that this woman they don’t know cares for them enough to spend time with them and listen to their needs.

I implore you to look beyond the arguments of the personal life of a movie star and see the good that can be brought about by her participation in an effort to improve the lives of people left traumatized by war and politics. Maintain your personal opinion, but don’t discount the impact the work she is doing to make life better for the people of a war torn country trying to return and rebuild. It doesn’t matter to them who she is, it just matters that she’s there.

Source: Cele|bitchy