Angelina Jolie Visits Ecuador For Refugee Awareness

Even as she ramps up for the premiere of her new movie โ€œSalt,โ€ Angelina Jolie recently spent time away from the glitz of Hollywood for a cause that is dear to her.

The Oscar-winning actress, who is also a United Nations goodwill ambassador, traveled to a village in Ecuador to visit refugees, The Associated Press reported. The trip was to highlight the abuses faced by women and children refugees. It marked Jolieโ€™s first visit to the region in eight years where thousands of Colombian refugees currently reside.

On Thursday Jolie was in the city of Lago Agrio and visited the Barranca Bermeja community, said the UNHCR's Web site. It was in Lago Agrio where she reunited with a Colombian mother whom she met in 2002. She also visited refugee women at a victims of domestic violence shelter.

Yesterday, she met with Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa and government officials.

"I wanted to come back and meet with vulnerable people and focus on violence against women and unaccompanied minors," said Jolie. "I am so happy to be able to reconnect with some familiar faces, refugees I had met with during my 2002 trip."

According to the UNHCR, there are approximately 51,000 registered Colombian refugees in Ecuador; however, there are estimates that the number is more than 170,000.

The 35-year-old star had recently participated in a video for World Refugee Day 2010.
 

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