Angelina Promotes Education for Iraqi Children
April 8 2008, Published 12:44 p.m. ET
is in Washington, D.C., where, on Monday night, she presented her friend, Mariane Pearl, wife of slain journalist Daniel Pearl, with an award for outstanding leadership.
Pearl accepted the Fern Holland Award from a glowingly pregnant Jolie at the Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards Gala at the Kennedy Center.
During her acceptance speech, Pearl, whose life was portrayed by Jolie on screen in A Mighty Heart, called the actress a "sister," and told the audience the two had spent the day together with their children, Maddox, Pax and Adam.
Angie presented other awards, along with First Lady Laura Bush, to six individuals for their outstanding humanitarian efforts. The 32-year-old mother of four arrived in the nation's capitol on Monday to promote her latest effort — urging the international community to make educating Iraqi children a priority.
"The best way to heal children of conflict from trauma is to have them focus on their future," Jolie told the Council on Foreign Relations on Tuesday.
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The event was to help launch the actress's new venture, the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict, which will focus on the work of prominent charity organizations as well as tell the stories of the children in need.
"Every child has a right to education and conflict is not a reason to ignore that," Jolie said.
Angie visited Iraq last August and has traveled to more than 2o humanitarian hot spots, including Sudan's Darfur region since becoming a goodwill U.N. ambassador in 2001.