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Notes from My Travels: Visits with Refugees in Africa, Cambodia, Pakistan and Ecuador
Three years ago, award-winning actress Angelina Jolie took on a radically different role as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Here are her memoirs from her journeys to Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Pakistan, Cambodia, and Ecuador, where she lived and worked and gave her heart to those who suffer the world's most shattering violence and victimization. Here are her revelations of joy and warmth amid utter destitution?compelling snapshots of courageous and inspiring people for whom survival is their daily work?and candid notes from a unique pilgrimage that completely changed the actress's worldview -- and the world within herself.
256 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2003
97 people are currently reading
2203 people want to read
About the author
Angelina Jolie
9 books219 followersAngelina Jolie (born Angelina Jolie Voight) is an American film actor and a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. She is often cited by popular media as one of the world's most beautiful women and her off-screen life is widely reported. She has received three Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and an Academy Award.
In 2003, Jolie published Notes from My Travels, a collection of journal entries that chronicle her early field missions as an Ambassador (2001-2002).
In 2003, Jolie published Notes from My Travels, a collection of journal entries that chronicle her early field missions as an Ambassador (2001-2002).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 183 reviews
March 31, 2008
Jolie is not a talented writer by any means, but her accounts of her experiences are honest and straightforward. The beauty in the book is that there is no flowery language masking or embellishing what's going on. She simply states what she sees, and how she feels, and from that, our eyes are opened to what is going on in the various parts of the world she visits.
September 17, 2010
Disclaimer - I like Angelina Jolie. I think that she's an amazing woman, a great actress and classier than certain people who feel the need to name-drop her in every other interview. That's partly why I read this and the other was that it gave me a significant push into Asia that I needed for my challenge.
Anyway, before Brangelina and all the kids Angelina Jolie was recruited as a UN Goodwill Ambassador for Refugees and as part of her duties she went travelling around the world to different areas to talk to displaced people. This book is her diaries during those trips and her thoughts and experiences. Almost from the start you warm to her, even if you didn't like her. The book is written such as we would write - chronicling little things and snippets of conversation as she discovers how different life is. There are little points, barely mentioned, where she realises that a boy she had spoken to was killed, or where she watches children pick litter in the street to earn money, or sees children being sold into the sex trade at the age of 5 or 6 because they can't afford not to or where she's told how gangs would come in and make family members amputate each others limbs, or sees children carrying guns where you can feel how it affects her. It's not done in a gratuitous 'oh woe is me' way, but in a way where, no matter how brief the image is, it sticks with you.
At one point in Cambodia she mentions how she and her friend went to a museum and in it they show pictures of some of the atrocities committed and she lists some of them and explains how she had to leave such was the effect it had on her.
In another account she went to Pakistan to speak with Afghan refugees. This is before 9/11 and she says that afterwards she donated money to the Afgahn refugees and as a result she received death-threats because people couldn't differentiate between Afghanistan and the Taliban. That stuck with me because even now I still think that some people fail to make those distinctions.
I know a lot of people don't like her, but I think reading this you can understand her stance on life and why she adopted the kids that she did. I just think it's something people should think about.
Anyway, before Brangelina and all the kids Angelina Jolie was recruited as a UN Goodwill Ambassador for Refugees and as part of her duties she went travelling around the world to different areas to talk to displaced people. This book is her diaries during those trips and her thoughts and experiences. Almost from the start you warm to her, even if you didn't like her. The book is written such as we would write - chronicling little things and snippets of conversation as she discovers how different life is. There are little points, barely mentioned, where she realises that a boy she had spoken to was killed, or where she watches children pick litter in the street to earn money, or sees children being sold into the sex trade at the age of 5 or 6 because they can't afford not to or where she's told how gangs would come in and make family members amputate each others limbs, or sees children carrying guns where you can feel how it affects her. It's not done in a gratuitous 'oh woe is me' way, but in a way where, no matter how brief the image is, it sticks with you.
At one point in Cambodia she mentions how she and her friend went to a museum and in it they show pictures of some of the atrocities committed and she lists some of them and explains how she had to leave such was the effect it had on her.
In another account she went to Pakistan to speak with Afghan refugees. This is before 9/11 and she says that afterwards she donated money to the Afgahn refugees and as a result she received death-threats because people couldn't differentiate between Afghanistan and the Taliban. That stuck with me because even now I still think that some people fail to make those distinctions.
I know a lot of people don't like her, but I think reading this you can understand her stance on life and why she adopted the kids that she did. I just think it's something people should think about.
September 21, 2007
I am proud to say I like Angelina Jolie when she was going through her 'weird stage' and some say she still is. In either case, she is someone I put as a role model because of the way she balances her life as a working woman, a mother, a humanitarian, a celebrity, etc. I love what she has done to help others and bring awareness to other places of the world. I love that she has adopted children who needed loving homes. This book is a must read.
May 24, 2012
This book should be titled “The education and awakening of Angelina Jolie” since the most interesting thing is the way she grows up between the beginning and the end.
Because she isn’t a writer, the shock and horror she experienced in Africa comes through in a more visceral way. She’s not trying to make us feel what she feels when she looks around at acres of dying refugees, she’s just trying to describe it to herself in some way that makes sense. I’m impressed by the fact that she requested her first humanitarian assignment to Africa and I wish she’d had the presence of mind and introspectiveness to write about what drove her to that decision. It’s all the more impressive that she would take another assignment after Africa because that kind of human suffering is way beyond one person’s ability to make a difference. It’s a rare person that dives in anyway and says that they’ll do what they can even if it makes no appreciable difference because they can’t stand by and do nothing.
The section on Cambodia came as a relief after her experience in Africa. It’s clear she connected with and loved the country and the people of Cambodia in a way that she didn’t with Africa. The horrors are no less real but we, as readers, see the way that she matured as a person and the way that she started to recognize what she has to offer. Tanzania was interesting, Pakistan was kind of grim and Ecuador came as an educational surprise since I read the book while on a trip to Ecuador.
The writing is all over the place. The sections of her journal are broken up in a jolting way by paragraphs explaining the history of humanitarian organizations like the UNHCR and some world history of how refugees came to be congregated in certain areas. It’s clear that if Jolie didn’t have a ghost writer, at least parts of this book were written after the fact. The journal entries in the moment ring the most true and have a lot of emotional depth.
I have a lot of respect for her and this journey that she took to open her eyes and her mind to the world around her. She could have become the kind of celebrity that took a few trips and then donated money to charities but instead she continues to donate her time, which is a far more precious commodity.
Because she isn’t a writer, the shock and horror she experienced in Africa comes through in a more visceral way. She’s not trying to make us feel what she feels when she looks around at acres of dying refugees, she’s just trying to describe it to herself in some way that makes sense. I’m impressed by the fact that she requested her first humanitarian assignment to Africa and I wish she’d had the presence of mind and introspectiveness to write about what drove her to that decision. It’s all the more impressive that she would take another assignment after Africa because that kind of human suffering is way beyond one person’s ability to make a difference. It’s a rare person that dives in anyway and says that they’ll do what they can even if it makes no appreciable difference because they can’t stand by and do nothing.
The section on Cambodia came as a relief after her experience in Africa. It’s clear she connected with and loved the country and the people of Cambodia in a way that she didn’t with Africa. The horrors are no less real but we, as readers, see the way that she matured as a person and the way that she started to recognize what she has to offer. Tanzania was interesting, Pakistan was kind of grim and Ecuador came as an educational surprise since I read the book while on a trip to Ecuador.
The writing is all over the place. The sections of her journal are broken up in a jolting way by paragraphs explaining the history of humanitarian organizations like the UNHCR and some world history of how refugees came to be congregated in certain areas. It’s clear that if Jolie didn’t have a ghost writer, at least parts of this book were written after the fact. The journal entries in the moment ring the most true and have a lot of emotional depth.
I have a lot of respect for her and this journey that she took to open her eyes and her mind to the world around her. She could have become the kind of celebrity that took a few trips and then donated money to charities but instead she continues to donate her time, which is a far more precious commodity.
October 25, 2009
Certainly not what you would expect from a Hollywood star. This is the story of Angelina Jolie, the Goodwill Ambassador for the UN. The story is told through journals that she wrote during visits that she took in 2001 and 2002 to Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Cambodia, Pakistan, and Ecuador.
As she says right off the bat, she's not a writer. The journals are short thoughts and memories that she was capturing each day. They are her thoughts as she experienced the interaction and stories of refugees all over the world. Though I would have preferred more detailed accounts of what is going on, there are definitely short stories of what these people have suffered and are suffering.
Because of the subject matter, and the fact that there's not a lot else out there on this subject (trust me, I've been actively looking for books on women of the Congo)I'm giving the book 4 stars. 3 stars would be an insult to the people it represents, and the importance of the refugee issues. I will preface it by saying that although it was at times repetitive and choppy, it was a quick read (I finished it in one day).
I am certain that I will read this book again, and that I will pass it on to others. People need to know.
As she says right off the bat, she's not a writer. The journals are short thoughts and memories that she was capturing each day. They are her thoughts as she experienced the interaction and stories of refugees all over the world. Though I would have preferred more detailed accounts of what is going on, there are definitely short stories of what these people have suffered and are suffering.
Because of the subject matter, and the fact that there's not a lot else out there on this subject (trust me, I've been actively looking for books on women of the Congo)I'm giving the book 4 stars. 3 stars would be an insult to the people it represents, and the importance of the refugee issues. I will preface it by saying that although it was at times repetitive and choppy, it was a quick read (I finished it in one day).
I am certain that I will read this book again, and that I will pass it on to others. People need to know.
September 24, 2007
Makes you appreciate her humanitarian work. You will really get to know the other side of AJ, away from the glamor in hollywood, her compassion towards these people, her genuine motives in helping in whatever way she can to tell the world that there are millions out there in the other side of the planet who lives in misery. It makes you stop whatever you're doing and just say, I'm a lucky bitch compared to these people, so what can I do now to help even just on my own little way???
July 4, 2013
This was a good and interesting book, but not a fast read. Reading Angelina Jolie's notes taken on some of her earlier trips as an ambassador for the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, reading about all the suffering, loss, and devastation she sees in the places she visits, was almost too much for me. I had to keep taking breaks and reading something lighter, so I could go back and read more later. I wonder how she could stand to actually be there and experience it, actually look in the eyes of people who are suffering beyond anything most Americans could even imagine. Her notes reflect how overwhelming such experiences could be for her. I like that she's so honest about herself, about the horror and the sadness and the pity, but also about her own internal, less noble impulses to flee and forget it all, to go home to all her comforts and not feel sad or guilty anymore. I like that she admits those feelings, and that she feels bad for them. That she admits she's hungry and thirsty and uncomfortable often during the trips, but doesn't, according to her notes, demand special treatment or make a big deal out of it. Instead, she seems willing to give everything that she can, emotionally AND financially.
There will always be cynics who doubt and criticize the motives of celebrities doing good deeds. I am not interested in that, though. She wouldn't have to do what she does, or put as much effort and risk and emotion into the work as she does. She wouldn't have to write low-key notebooks like this to share her experiences and information learned with the world. But she does. I learned a lot reading this book, only a little of which I already knew. I didn't know about the displaced person/ refugee crisis in Columbia. I barely knew about Columbia's political turmoil at all. I didn't know about the harsh climate of at least parts of Pakistan, or the plight of (mostly Afghan) refugees there, and I didn't know enough about the situations in the other countries she wrote about--the land mine crisis in Cambodia, the amputee epidemic in Sierra Leone, etc. Now I do. I also know that Angelina Jolie wears glasses, is lefthanded, and was raised Catholic. I feel like I learned more about her as a person as well as the issues, people, and places she wrote about, and that I have even more respect for her and the work she does. I'm glad that I read this book.
There will always be cynics who doubt and criticize the motives of celebrities doing good deeds. I am not interested in that, though. She wouldn't have to do what she does, or put as much effort and risk and emotion into the work as she does. She wouldn't have to write low-key notebooks like this to share her experiences and information learned with the world. But she does. I learned a lot reading this book, only a little of which I already knew. I didn't know about the displaced person/ refugee crisis in Columbia. I barely knew about Columbia's political turmoil at all. I didn't know about the harsh climate of at least parts of Pakistan, or the plight of (mostly Afghan) refugees there, and I didn't know enough about the situations in the other countries she wrote about--the land mine crisis in Cambodia, the amputee epidemic in Sierra Leone, etc. Now I do. I also know that Angelina Jolie wears glasses, is lefthanded, and was raised Catholic. I feel like I learned more about her as a person as well as the issues, people, and places she wrote about, and that I have even more respect for her and the work she does. I'm glad that I read this book.
travel
November 13, 2011Favorite quotes:
"I think we all want justice and equality. We all want a chance for a life with meaning. All of us would like to believe that if we were in a bad situation someone would help us."
"Someone once said, 'You can learn more about someone in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.'"
"I think we all want justice and equality. We all want a chance for a life with meaning. All of us would like to believe that if we were in a bad situation someone would help us."
"Someone once said, 'You can learn more about someone in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.'"
August 15, 2007
I loved this book because I admire Angelina Jolie for what she's doing for the humanity. Of course, it doesn't hurt that I LOVE her as well. Anyway, it was interesting to know what was going on in her position since I've always wanted to be involved with refugee agency (most of my fam are refugees from Cambodia).
January 4, 2008
Being a HUGE Angelina Jolie fan, I found this book to love her even more! She just proves to the world that she is seriously one of the most active and loving actresses out there. Her daily struggles helping refugees opened my eyes and I think everyone should read this book! Kudos!
February 13, 2017
Este livro não estava inicialmente nos meus planos para o mês. Mas aquando numa das muitas visitas à biblioteca vi este livro e achei que seria uma boa leitura adequado ao tema de viagens.
Novamente um livro de não-ficção onde a actriz Angelina Jolie conta um pouco das suas viagens humanitárias à Serra Leoa, à Tanzânia, ao Paquistão, ao Cambodja e ao Equador nos anos de 2001 e 2002.
Os relatos aqui apresentados são duros. As histórias de vida impressionantes, embora não explorasse muito este assunto. Conta como foi conhecer refugiados de lugares muito diferentes, mas com um objectivo em comum: uma vida melhor, sem guerras, nem fome. Conta também um pouco daquilo que sente ao falar com estas pessoas e da pessoa que se tornou depois destas experiências. Reconhecer e dar valor ao que se tem e ajudar o outro tornou-se num lema para esta mulher.
Estes relatos permiten-nos conhecer um pouco mais sobre a situação dos refugiados. E muito embora estas recordações sejam de há 10 anos atrás são bem actuais.
Gostei muito.
Novamente um livro de não-ficção onde a actriz Angelina Jolie conta um pouco das suas viagens humanitárias à Serra Leoa, à Tanzânia, ao Paquistão, ao Cambodja e ao Equador nos anos de 2001 e 2002.
Os relatos aqui apresentados são duros. As histórias de vida impressionantes, embora não explorasse muito este assunto. Conta como foi conhecer refugiados de lugares muito diferentes, mas com um objectivo em comum: uma vida melhor, sem guerras, nem fome. Conta também um pouco daquilo que sente ao falar com estas pessoas e da pessoa que se tornou depois destas experiências. Reconhecer e dar valor ao que se tem e ajudar o outro tornou-se num lema para esta mulher.
Estes relatos permiten-nos conhecer um pouco mais sobre a situação dos refugiados. E muito embora estas recordações sejam de há 10 anos atrás são bem actuais.
Gostei muito.
November 28, 2022
Angelina Jolie ialah antara individu terkenal yang menggunakan kedudukannya untuk kebaikan sejagat. Kerja-kerja kemanusiaannya bermula lama, lahir daripada empati yang tinggi serta keinginan untuk mempelajari dan memahami kehidupan di luar dunia glamor.
Kalau dilihat daripada senarai filem-filem yang mana beliau terlibat (sbg penerbit/penerbit eksekutif), memang banyak yang membawa mesej kemanusiaan. Paling saya ingat, animasi The Breadwinner.
Penulisan jurnal biasa-biasa dan straighforward, namun isinya menginsipirasikan. Saya syorkan buku ini buat mereka yang sukakan kerja-kerja sukarela atau yang berminat dengan topik bantuan buat pelarian di negara-negara yang disebutkan pada tajuk.
Kalau dilihat daripada senarai filem-filem yang mana beliau terlibat (sbg penerbit/penerbit eksekutif), memang banyak yang membawa mesej kemanusiaan. Paling saya ingat, animasi The Breadwinner.
Penulisan jurnal biasa-biasa dan straighforward, namun isinya menginsipirasikan. Saya syorkan buku ini buat mereka yang sukakan kerja-kerja sukarela atau yang berminat dengan topik bantuan buat pelarian di negara-negara yang disebutkan pada tajuk.
May 4, 2018
This is my second read of Angelina’s Journals.
Journals. Journals. Journals.
I believe this is something people have missed. I’ve read reviews stating the writing isn’t great and they couldn’t get over that fact to read the book. That is incredibly sad as this book is brilliant.
It paints a true picture of Developing Countries and teaches you a few things about them. Her writing is honest and raw and even on the 2nd reading I still love it. Having traveled to some of these countries and volunteered I really enjoyed this book. It will hopefully open the eyes of a lot of people who aren’t open to refugees and hate.
“I am tired of crying and feeling so helpless. I want to breathe again-just for a little while. Then I will do whatever I can to help these people. How could I not-once I met them, once I saw for myself.”
Journals. Journals. Journals.
I believe this is something people have missed. I’ve read reviews stating the writing isn’t great and they couldn’t get over that fact to read the book. That is incredibly sad as this book is brilliant.
It paints a true picture of Developing Countries and teaches you a few things about them. Her writing is honest and raw and even on the 2nd reading I still love it. Having traveled to some of these countries and volunteered I really enjoyed this book. It will hopefully open the eyes of a lot of people who aren’t open to refugees and hate.
“I am tired of crying and feeling so helpless. I want to breathe again-just for a little while. Then I will do whatever I can to help these people. How could I not-once I met them, once I saw for myself.”
January 1, 2009
Jolie's diary notes as Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR (2002-2003). She went to Mamibia, Thailand, Ecuador, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Kosovo. Angelina didn't travel as a movie star but took the simple path of a UNHCR worker. My husband was Amb. in Cambodia (the fellow mentioned in her chapter on Cambodia) when she was there and can testify to her earnest endeavor to learn all she could. He noted her note taking at the time. Ms Jolie began as a naive, privileged, rich young woman determined to learn. She was in harm's way more than once as she traveled the path of the refugee. She learned. The book is not well written; it will win no prize but it is a prize; it will inform in the classic style, from the eyes of the innocent. Well done, Angelina!
August 20, 2011
This is a heartfelt journal. The thoughts are raw, not softened by a ghostwriter. A true insiders view to worlds that we cannot imagine, war torn countries and the people that are punished because of it. This is an eye opening experience, one that had me tearing up in places, mad as hell in others, and overall grateful for what I have, and hopeful that I can provide help to an amazing organization in the future. Whatever you think you know of Angelina Jolie, this gives another view, and reminds me that we are all human, that under whatever we do every day, whether we are movie stars or waitresses, we all want the same thing, peace, happiness, and to know that our families have hope.
April 16, 2021
This collection of Angelina Jolie's journals during her travels as a UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) ambassador was raw and unfiltered. Using her enormous platform of world-renowned fame Angelina shared her stories of working with refugees and internally displaced peoples (IDP) to implore people to have humanity. Sadly, we live in a world where people hate refugees while over 80 Million people last year were displaced due to war, violence, persecution, genocide, etc. It angers me and breaks my heart when people are so heartless and uncaring of the plights of our fellow brothers and sisters of humanity. How cold blooded must one be to hate and dispise people who are just trying to survive?
I love Angelina as an actress and I love her as a human that cares about and loves other humans so deeply. This book made me respect her even more. So many of her journal entries were awakening and enlightening moments she had of just how fortunate and privileged her life had always been. She reflected on gratitude and humanity so much, and she touched my heart when she constantly wished that the people who hate refugees could see and experience what she was in the displacement camps. She sought to educate herself against stigmas the media created against Islam and the Middle East. At the start of the crisis in Syria she was one of the first people to visit the Syrian refugees in displacement camps while so much propaganda and fear-mongering was being generated by the media. This book was published far before those travels, and I wish I could read her notes from other visits she has made.
I love Angelina as an actress and I love her as a human that cares about and loves other humans so deeply. This book made me respect her even more. So many of her journal entries were awakening and enlightening moments she had of just how fortunate and privileged her life had always been. She reflected on gratitude and humanity so much, and she touched my heart when she constantly wished that the people who hate refugees could see and experience what she was in the displacement camps. She sought to educate herself against stigmas the media created against Islam and the Middle East. At the start of the crisis in Syria she was one of the first people to visit the Syrian refugees in displacement camps while so much propaganda and fear-mongering was being generated by the media. This book was published far before those travels, and I wish I could read her notes from other visits she has made.
January 29, 2025
A very humble and honest book from which one can learn a lot
Read
June 7, 2025It's not a book. Just a journal, I love, so a zillion Stars....
May 27, 2010
I enjoyed this book very much, although it tensed me at times, and made me cry at others. It's the story of many refugees around the world, and the humanitarian work Angelina Jolie has done to help them out. It's an account of her early years as Good Will Ambassador for the UNHCR.
I’m so impressed by the things that people can do to each other, and how the survivors of this hatred and spite keep on with their lives after such harsh and traumatic experiences stay tattooed on their souls. By the end of the book I couldn’t stop asking myself the same thing that Angelina asked herself all along: how do they survive at all!
Angelina starts her journal by saying that she's not different from other people, but she wants to help. To me that alone makes her different. Not everyone cares about other fellow beings. She's different in so many ways and she makes a difference with all her humanitarian work.
I can understand why the UNHCR agency has such high rates of suicide and depression. Reading books about other countries who live in permanent terror like the ones she describes always depresses me, even though I’m thousands of miles away culturally and physically, and safe behind the soft pages of the book. I can’t imagine the emotional scars that all those persons are left with when they are lucky enough to keep their lives. Anonymous to the rest of the world and yet still very valuable lives. Dead just seems such a high price to pay for respect and integrity. I can’t imagine where they gather the strength to keep smiling.
It would be easier, less risky and less emotionally demanding to just send funds from the comfort of her home, and yet she is willing to share with all these people her time helping out in whatever ways she can. And that’s why it’s so admirable what she does. It’s easy to mourn the dead, but it’s hard to help the living. To all those refugees she is just some woman who wants to help. A remarkable woman with noble feelings. She masters beautiful gestures that make people feel good and loved and recognized and valued, and that alone can be more important than having a lot of other things that seem necessary and are necessary for all of them, but not any more so than the grace and beauty of a person whose mere existence makes it possible for them to keep their hopes up.
As I read once, you can train thousands or millions of political theorists and economists and theologians and bureaucrats, but charm and charisma, and the desire to put celebrity to good use: hundreds of years of training can’t teach that or invent it. And Angelina has what it takes to make all this happen. I can’t help those people because I don’t have the economic resources to do so. But I’m grateful that there are people like her out there who are willing to share what they have, and to sacrifice some of her own comfort to help out. It's a good read if you want to sensitize yourself about some world issues.
I’m so impressed by the things that people can do to each other, and how the survivors of this hatred and spite keep on with their lives after such harsh and traumatic experiences stay tattooed on their souls. By the end of the book I couldn’t stop asking myself the same thing that Angelina asked herself all along: how do they survive at all!
Angelina starts her journal by saying that she's not different from other people, but she wants to help. To me that alone makes her different. Not everyone cares about other fellow beings. She's different in so many ways and she makes a difference with all her humanitarian work.
I can understand why the UNHCR agency has such high rates of suicide and depression. Reading books about other countries who live in permanent terror like the ones she describes always depresses me, even though I’m thousands of miles away culturally and physically, and safe behind the soft pages of the book. I can’t imagine the emotional scars that all those persons are left with when they are lucky enough to keep their lives. Anonymous to the rest of the world and yet still very valuable lives. Dead just seems such a high price to pay for respect and integrity. I can’t imagine where they gather the strength to keep smiling.
It would be easier, less risky and less emotionally demanding to just send funds from the comfort of her home, and yet she is willing to share with all these people her time helping out in whatever ways she can. And that’s why it’s so admirable what she does. It’s easy to mourn the dead, but it’s hard to help the living. To all those refugees she is just some woman who wants to help. A remarkable woman with noble feelings. She masters beautiful gestures that make people feel good and loved and recognized and valued, and that alone can be more important than having a lot of other things that seem necessary and are necessary for all of them, but not any more so than the grace and beauty of a person whose mere existence makes it possible for them to keep their hopes up.
As I read once, you can train thousands or millions of political theorists and economists and theologians and bureaucrats, but charm and charisma, and the desire to put celebrity to good use: hundreds of years of training can’t teach that or invent it. And Angelina has what it takes to make all this happen. I can’t help those people because I don’t have the economic resources to do so. But I’m grateful that there are people like her out there who are willing to share what they have, and to sacrifice some of her own comfort to help out. It's a good read if you want to sensitize yourself about some world issues.
December 31, 2011
I knew Angelina Jolie wrote this book and had it published years ago. I was truly interested in her efforts and work, and on top of that I've always been a Jolie fan, but I didn't get a chance to pick it up until a few days ago.
She is such a compassionate, considerate, caring and amazing individual. I almost forgot I was reading a book written by a celebrity!
A thing I really liked about her journal was that she wasn't trying to be somebody she's not - in her own words in the introduction - "I am not a writer. These are just my journals." You really get to know what was going on in those days during her travels. She doesn't try to make herself sound all ostentatious and flashy w/ big words. Her experiences were raw and emotional. She is just an honest person who wants to do her part in this world to help society.
I think Miss Jolie and I have one thing in common, and in her words, we both "honestly want to help... all of us would like to believe that if we were in a bad situation someone would help us." I also agree w/ one of the reviewers below me - she IS vulnerable, and you can tell by her diary entries in this book.
I also learned so much from her. She isn't arrogant; some of the things she wrote she had just learned from different people and sources. and through them she is just informing the readers of what she had just discovered, whether it be history, statistics, news, etc.
I highly recommend this book to everyone. The feelings and experiences were so real that I could really understand what she was talking about and go what she was going through. I cannot say enough about the good and humble work she has done. I wish I met the people she volunteered w/ and the refugees also. This was an inspirational and fascinating read written by an open-minded person that will move your hearts, as it did to me. Bravo, Angie!
She is such a compassionate, considerate, caring and amazing individual. I almost forgot I was reading a book written by a celebrity!
A thing I really liked about her journal was that she wasn't trying to be somebody she's not - in her own words in the introduction - "I am not a writer. These are just my journals." You really get to know what was going on in those days during her travels. She doesn't try to make herself sound all ostentatious and flashy w/ big words. Her experiences were raw and emotional. She is just an honest person who wants to do her part in this world to help society.
I think Miss Jolie and I have one thing in common, and in her words, we both "honestly want to help... all of us would like to believe that if we were in a bad situation someone would help us." I also agree w/ one of the reviewers below me - she IS vulnerable, and you can tell by her diary entries in this book.
I also learned so much from her. She isn't arrogant; some of the things she wrote she had just learned from different people and sources. and through them she is just informing the readers of what she had just discovered, whether it be history, statistics, news, etc.
I highly recommend this book to everyone. The feelings and experiences were so real that I could really understand what she was talking about and go what she was going through. I cannot say enough about the good and humble work she has done. I wish I met the people she volunteered w/ and the refugees also. This was an inspirational and fascinating read written by an open-minded person that will move your hearts, as it did to me. Bravo, Angie!
August 22, 2014
This was an unexpected pleasure. Part of that, I think, is that she's very cognizant of what the book is and what it isn't, and then also of what her capacity with UNHCR is and isn't.
How could we ever pretend to know what is best for a people if we have no clear relationship with them? (page 104)
Jolie traveled primarily as an observer, with the intent of learning as much as possible about refugee situations and raising awareness at home. She wasn't there to 'fix' anything or provide more than the most basic aid (while visiting refugee camps), and her journal entries include a refreshing understanding of how little she knows -- she fills in a lot of blanks as she goes, but yeah, it's impossible to get a full understanding of a country's problems in a two-week visit. For in-depth analysis of the situations in any of the countries she talks about, read something else, but this is way more interesting than your average celebrity memoir (or cookbook or fashion book...).
There's an apparent frustration in the writing, of not being able to do anything to help, tempered by that same understanding that that's not the point. (This is one of the few things I envy about Jolie's level of fame -- the voice it provides, and the opportunity to do something with that voice. Would that more celebrities took it to her level!) Maybe someday she'll write something about the work she's done since.
As an aside: Reading about amputations in Sierra Leone's civil war... I just can't believe the human cruelty involved.
How could we ever pretend to know what is best for a people if we have no clear relationship with them? (page 104)
Jolie traveled primarily as an observer, with the intent of learning as much as possible about refugee situations and raising awareness at home. She wasn't there to 'fix' anything or provide more than the most basic aid (while visiting refugee camps), and her journal entries include a refreshing understanding of how little she knows -- she fills in a lot of blanks as she goes, but yeah, it's impossible to get a full understanding of a country's problems in a two-week visit. For in-depth analysis of the situations in any of the countries she talks about, read something else, but this is way more interesting than your average celebrity memoir (or cookbook or fashion book...).
There's an apparent frustration in the writing, of not being able to do anything to help, tempered by that same understanding that that's not the point. (This is one of the few things I envy about Jolie's level of fame -- the voice it provides, and the opportunity to do something with that voice. Would that more celebrities took it to her level!) Maybe someday she'll write something about the work she's done since.
As an aside: Reading about amputations in Sierra Leone's civil war... I just can't believe the human cruelty involved.
September 28, 2016
Angelina Jolie states right off the bat that she is not a writer, and this is evident throughout the book. Her sentences are disjointed, and at times she seems to repeat the mission and objectives of UNHCR over and over again like a mantra.
In spite of it, her lack of writing skill serves to augment the horror she sees at the refugee camps. At the time of her writing; she is a naive, privileged movie star who experiences another side of the world, a stark contrast from the glitz and glamour of her own. Her reaction to it, reflected in her words; are raw, visceral and honest.
I find the book very hard to read at certain parts, especially during her mission to Cambodia. Reading about it caused me so much distress, what more if I am there meeting the refugees and seeing the pictures of torture victims firsthand. I don't think I have the stomach for it. I admire Ms Jolie for having the courage to hear the refugees' stories and trying to make their voices heard on the world stage.
There are some lighthearted moments in the book as well. In one instance, Ms Jolie remarks on the fickleness of Hollywood. After she finds out she is not needed for a movie premiere, she is told to find her own way home from Africa. Another instance is when she goes to a Cambodian market with her colleagues to buy durians. She recalls eating the fruit while sitting on a plastic stool. Durians are infamous for inducing gag reflexes in Westerners (to us Southeast Asians, it is the most delicious fruit on the planet!). For her to even attempt to eat it .... haha, my hats off to you, Ms Jolie!
In spite of it, her lack of writing skill serves to augment the horror she sees at the refugee camps. At the time of her writing; she is a naive, privileged movie star who experiences another side of the world, a stark contrast from the glitz and glamour of her own. Her reaction to it, reflected in her words; are raw, visceral and honest.
I find the book very hard to read at certain parts, especially during her mission to Cambodia. Reading about it caused me so much distress, what more if I am there meeting the refugees and seeing the pictures of torture victims firsthand. I don't think I have the stomach for it. I admire Ms Jolie for having the courage to hear the refugees' stories and trying to make their voices heard on the world stage.
There are some lighthearted moments in the book as well. In one instance, Ms Jolie remarks on the fickleness of Hollywood. After she finds out she is not needed for a movie premiere, she is told to find her own way home from Africa. Another instance is when she goes to a Cambodian market with her colleagues to buy durians. She recalls eating the fruit while sitting on a plastic stool. Durians are infamous for inducing gag reflexes in Westerners (to us Southeast Asians, it is the most delicious fruit on the planet!). For her to even attempt to eat it .... haha, my hats off to you, Ms Jolie!
August 4, 2008
Angelina Jolie was named Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commisioner for Refugees on August 27, 2001. This book is comprised of her journals from her visits with refugees in Africa, Cambodia, Pakistan, and Ecuador. She admits that she is not a writer, but this book is effective nonetheless, eye-opening, and very sad. It's nice to see a celebrity do some good with their wealth and good fortune. I just wish she would have listed some resources or let her readers know know how they can help, however little.
March 13, 2020
I'm a fan of Jolie and her international humanitarian work, but I was hoping to gain more from this book - especially in terms of the historical background, political context and social issues of the areas she visited. Instead, the book is a very personal account of Jolie's emotional responses to her experiences. I wish it had been more informative.
February 24, 2019
Angelina Jolie is ambassadrice voor UNHCR en dit boek is haar dagboek van een aantal reizen die ze maakt als ze oa Afrika bezoekt en wat UNHCR daar doet voor de vluchtelingen. indrukwekkend om te lezen.
July 15, 2009
Very moving journal. I have a lot of respect for Ms. Jolie's work with and for refugees.
September 9, 2017
Idk..... it was boring
Read
September 3, 2018Angelina Jolie is a writer. Don't doubt.
May 7, 2020
this is so raw and so powerful because of its rawness.
let’s start with this: this is not a book you read looking for beautiful writing.
but to be quiet honest with you, if that is what you are looking for in this type of book you are not going to get anything from that book anyways!!
this book isn’t about the writing style or even the person telling and writing the book.
it’s about the people in the stories.
it’s about the lives and the areas around the world that have so very little and are so dangerous to live in.
this book is about sharing that in hopes that we don’t close the book after finishing it and do nothing.
i hope other people that read this are also at least unbelievable thankful for everything we do take for granted because we just don’t think about not having it (even now i’m the middle of the corona crisis most of not all western countries don’t really have it bad at all! we have food and water, shelter and warmth! we have our family, if not directly with us, near enough to be able to contact them, be it through technology or visiting them safely)
we don’t know what it’s like to really have nothing. have no idea what we would do if we didn’t know where our next sip of water might come from let alone a bite to eat.
and it’s not about privilege.
sure that plays a role.
but mostly it’s -as jolie also says in the book- it’s simply about where a child is born.
this book isn’t to make the reader feel helpless or afraid.
i think it’s more about shining even just a tiny little bit of light into very dark and rarely talked about regions of earth.
another thing that jolie mentioned in this book is how little americans -and other countries in the world- teach about the world as a whole or very selected little snippets of countries instead of an actual overview of the countries.
and that’s very true!
and jts so sad!
we are now more than ever an actual open world in the way that we can so easily travel or access parts of the world through technology!
but we still don’t learn about all those parts even just in a very basic sense in school.
all in all what i am taking away from this book is that i think we should all look i to organizations that help poorer countries and see if there are ways we can help.
not even with money but maybe just won’t spreading awareness, sharing what we learned and getting other informed so that more people learn about organizations that need help to help others.
and i think that is exactly what this book was trying to do and for me it did that.
as i said already, i don’t need the best written book for that because the truth doesn’t need beautification and facelifts.
it should just be told and taken for what it is: the true reality!
you don’t like that? don’t like how it sounds or what you read or what you are hearing?
Do something about it!
or don’t read this type of book to begin without
let’s start with this: this is not a book you read looking for beautiful writing.
but to be quiet honest with you, if that is what you are looking for in this type of book you are not going to get anything from that book anyways!!
this book isn’t about the writing style or even the person telling and writing the book.
it’s about the people in the stories.
it’s about the lives and the areas around the world that have so very little and are so dangerous to live in.
this book is about sharing that in hopes that we don’t close the book after finishing it and do nothing.
i hope other people that read this are also at least unbelievable thankful for everything we do take for granted because we just don’t think about not having it (even now i’m the middle of the corona crisis most of not all western countries don’t really have it bad at all! we have food and water, shelter and warmth! we have our family, if not directly with us, near enough to be able to contact them, be it through technology or visiting them safely)
we don’t know what it’s like to really have nothing. have no idea what we would do if we didn’t know where our next sip of water might come from let alone a bite to eat.
and it’s not about privilege.
sure that plays a role.
but mostly it’s -as jolie also says in the book- it’s simply about where a child is born.
this book isn’t to make the reader feel helpless or afraid.
i think it’s more about shining even just a tiny little bit of light into very dark and rarely talked about regions of earth.
another thing that jolie mentioned in this book is how little americans -and other countries in the world- teach about the world as a whole or very selected little snippets of countries instead of an actual overview of the countries.
and that’s very true!
and jts so sad!
we are now more than ever an actual open world in the way that we can so easily travel or access parts of the world through technology!
but we still don’t learn about all those parts even just in a very basic sense in school.
all in all what i am taking away from this book is that i think we should all look i to organizations that help poorer countries and see if there are ways we can help.
not even with money but maybe just won’t spreading awareness, sharing what we learned and getting other informed so that more people learn about organizations that need help to help others.
and i think that is exactly what this book was trying to do and for me it did that.
as i said already, i don’t need the best written book for that because the truth doesn’t need beautification and facelifts.
it should just be told and taken for what it is: the true reality!
you don’t like that? don’t like how it sounds or what you read or what you are hearing?
Do something about it!
or don’t read this type of book to begin without
Read
August 20, 2020I've had this book for several years but never got around to reading it until the Pandemic. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this was not the story of a celebrity going to places around the globe where refugees are barely existing. Of course, this is exactly what the book is. It is not a polished memoir. It is not a vanity project in which she hypes herself as a humanitarian. Instead, it is a very honest collection of thoughts about her experiences in various countries around the globe--the people she talks to, the horrors she's told about, the aftermath of war that she witnesses (so many amputees, so many people who have lost family members, so many people who just want to be allowed to live their lives). This is not a polished narrative. Instead, it is raw. She shares her emotions--how awed she is by people's resilience, how pained she is at the suffering, how futile it seems because there is so much need and not enough help. Though her focus is on the refugees, she also talks a lot about the volunteers and you get to see how remarkable they are as well. Most of these trips happened right after she was named a Goodwill Ambassador before she was a mother, and the voice is that of someone who is not jaded, who feels the pain of others and wants to be able to do more than she is able to. (My only beef with the book is that Africa is listed as if it is a country instead of a continent.) Some photos and maps are included.
This book will appeal to anyone interested in refugee crises across the globe, what the UN does to help, and one American's thoughts about her experiences as she surveys the hotspots. It is both depressing and uplifting. It will likely appeal to anyone who is a fan of Angelina Jolie's, but the book really isn't about her or the glamor of her life.
This book will appeal to anyone interested in refugee crises across the globe, what the UN does to help, and one American's thoughts about her experiences as she surveys the hotspots. It is both depressing and uplifting. It will likely appeal to anyone who is a fan of Angelina Jolie's, but the book really isn't about her or the glamor of her life.
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