MTV special to follow actress Jolie to Kenya

MTV plans to chronicle a visit to poverty-stricken African villages by actress Angelina Jolie on September 14, three months after co-star and off-screen companion Brad Pitt gained notice with a similar ABC special.

The MTV documentary will follow Jolie as she accompanies United Nations adviser and economist Jeffrey Sachs on a trip to Sauri, a remote group of villages in western Kenya where his team is battling hunger and disease, the cable channel said this week.

The 30-minute program, a special episode of MTV's long-running 'Diary' series spotlighting celebrities, will coincide with the opening of a U.N. special summit on goals for improving living standards in developing nations.
The actress, an Oscar winner for 'Girl, Interrupted,' has visited U.N. operations around the world as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations' High Commissioner on Refugees since 2001.

Sachs serves as a special adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, as well as director of the U.N. Millennium Project. He also is head of Columbia University's Earth Institute. The Viacom Inc.-owned network said the special is part of its 'think MTV' initiative, aimed at encouraging greater social activism on the part of its young audience.

'I'm certain the stories in this special will inspire viewers the same way these experiences have inspired me,'

Jolie said in a statement announcing the show's premiere date. | source: Reuters.com