VIDEO: Angelina Jolie Sends A Message From Ecuador

June 21 2010, Published 10:36 a.m. ET

Angelina Jolie has been on a humanitarian trip to Ecuador and in honor of World Refugee Day, the actress sent out a special video message that included an interview she did with a local woman who escaped from violence-torn Colombia.

Jolie, who is a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Goodwill Ambassador, went to Ecuador - which borders Colombia - eight years ago. At the time, there were 300 registered refugees. Today, there are 50,000 and over 100,000 identified. In the video, she spoke to one woman who shared her tale of escape.

Article continues below advertisement

“We would like to share a little of her story,” Jolie began before speaking to the woman through a translator.

“They were always living in fear... many times they had to sleep out in the bush because it was too dangerous to stay in the village and sleep in their own houses,” the translator relayed.

“When she was back in Colombia, she lost two sons... to violence.”

The woman, who is a midwife and was kept anonymous due to security reasons, also helped deliver her daughter-in-law’s child as they were crossing the Colombia-Ecuador border two years ago. The woman said that even though she lived next to a health center, new moms would come to her to deliver their children because they trusted her more.

MORE ON:

hollywood happenings

DAILY. BREAKING. CELEBRITY NEWS. ALL FREE.

“Next time, I come to you,” Angelina said. The woman countered, “I can come to you!”

Also during the trip, Jolie stopped in at a daycare center run by the Women’s Federation of Sucumbios province. Jolie played with some of the children there, laughing as one little boy shyly turned away grinning as she offered him a toy cheeseburger.