Happy family
Blaming her hormones for the fact she can't stop giggling, Angelina Jolie
addressed the serious topic of Global Education Week on Thursday's Today, in a
segment that was taped in the African nation of Namibia ¨C which interviewer Ann
Curry described as "the edge of nowhere."
While the topic of helping the world's children go to school was the focus of
the sit-down, Curry did bring up how Jolie and Brad Pitt are awaiting the birth
of their child, intimating that Namibia might be a strange place to have it.
"We just don't know where it's going to happen or where it's going to be,"
Jolie conceded.
When Curry asked if there's a doctor nearby, Jolie replied, "We've been smart
about it. Things will be as they will be. I'm ready for anything."
And the gender of the child? "I'd like to keep that to myself," said Jolie,
who proved outspoken when it came to the subject of schooling for the world's
poor.
"The lack of education causes death," she said. "More children die under the
age of five when parents are not educated, More people get AIDS when they
haven't had an education. Statistics prove that if every child was in school
every year, 700,000 less people would get AIDS."
As spokesperson for Global Education Week, Jolie takes a personal interest in
the subject partly because her own two children ¨C Maddox, 4, from Cambodia, and
Zahara, 1, from Ethiopia ¨C likely would have lacked for every opportunity.
There is no possibility she could have gone to school," Jolie said of Zahara.
"In all probability, what would have happened to Maddox, he would have been one
of the kids doing the garbage picking in the street, and he would have been on
his own.
Jolie appeared surprised when Curry compared her concern for education to
that shown by another woman ¨C first lady Laura Bush. "She should nudge her
husband," said Jolie.
When Curry pointed out that the United States does spend a considerable
amount of money to insure that poor people get an education, Jolie acknowledged,
"They do. But (the Bush program) 'No Child Left Behind' means NO child left
behind. Britain gives three times more than us right now. They're not richer
than us. So, I don't know what the great excuse is."
As for her giggling? "That's what I've gotten from the pregnancy," said
Jolie. Brad said that to me, too. I just get hysterical now. It goes on for
hours. ¡ It's hormonal."