Mia Farrow: A Promise

via bonnint

Before Scarlett Johansson, Mia Farrow was Woody Allen’s muse. The former big screen starlet, who was briefly married to Frank Sinatra, is now turning her attention to Darfur. In the latest issue of Vogue, the 63-year-old describes her latest trip to the Central African Republic. “We stay in the U.N. or humanitarian NGO housing, and if it’s too gross inside, Mia will throw a mattress on the ground outside, a bug net over her, and go to sleep. She’s not scared,” notes Jill Savitt the director of Dream for Darfur initiative.

As a goodwill ambassador for Unicef, Farrow has made this trip nine times. However, Unicef has not always backed her visits to Africa. “Unicef said I couldn’t go, because it was too dangerous, so I went by myself in November 2006 and came back with photographs that I thought were important documentation of what was going on. There was no press there at the time.” On her site, she also explains the best way to help, from donating to Doctor’s Without Borders to raising awareness about China’s role in Darfur.

Even when she was very young, Farrow knew she would find a way to give back. “I wanted to be a pediatrician and work in Africa. I would have been happy doing that,” says Farrow. Her passion for children is evident since she has fifteen children, eleven of whom were adopted. Luckily, Farrow’s latest trip to Africa will not be her last. “I will return there, and again they will plead for protection; again I will listen, I will write down every word they say. I will take photographs, I will hold broken women in my arms; and again I will promise them that I will tell the world what is happening to them, and then somehow I will leave them in their hell and come back to a largely different world.”

Be sure to check out recent Do Something award winner Adam Sterling to learn about his role in working to stop genocide.

Contributed by CGG Youth Reporter Christine Lenzo