Jolie receives citizenship
2005-11-22 14:35
Phnom Penh, Cambodia - Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has received a Cambodian passport after being made a citizen of the impoverished Southeast Asian country, an associate said on Tuesday.
She can use it when she visits the native land of her adopted son, Maddox, said Stephan Bognar, executive director of the Maddox Jolie project in Cambodia.
The project, managed by San Francisco-based WildAid, promotes wildlife conservation and community development in a former Khmer Rouge guerrilla stronghold in north-western Cambodia.
Bognar said the actress was "ecstatic and thrilled" last month when he handed her the passport and an official copy of a royal decree giving her Cambodian citizenship.
"Maddox was there and she showed him (the passport)," he said.
"It gives her a closer link, a stronger bond" with her adopted son's native country. she said.
Jolie has had a simple wooden hut built for to stay in when she visits Cambodia, Bognar said.
He said he did not know when Jolie's hectic schedule as a mother, actress and conservationist would allow her to next visit Cambodia.
Jolie has donated $1.5 million (about R) for the project in the past three years.
The project trains villagers in sustainable economic activities in the hope that they will not conserve natural resources. It also aims to provide supplemental income for government rangers to protect wildlife and forests in the former war zone, Bognar said.
Parts of Jolie's adventure movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider were filmed at Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temple.
The actress adopted Maddox three years ago, and has recently adopted an orphaned baby girl from Ethiopia.
- SAPA