Angelina Jolie Has Been Transformed

Angelina Jolie says that her work with refugees has transformed her as a person.

However, when she first became interested in working with refugees she had some work to do to convince the United Nations to overlook her rebel image.

"I approached them. I think they thought I was a little crazy," she tells Newsweek.

Jolie first approached the U.N.'s refugee agency, the UNHCR, almostsix years ago. "I was very nervous to call the U.N. agency at the time," she says. "I [was] considered a rebel in Hollywood. At the time I was also a bit of the wild child.

"So first I went to Washington [to the UNHCR office] and I sat with everybody there and said, 'You know, I know you don't know me. You might have heard things about me. ... And I don't want to bring negative attention to your agency. If you could just help me, I'll pay my way.' "

She soon went to work visiting camps in Africa, Pakistan and Cambodia. "With no cameras and with no press [I] had the opportunity to have this great education before I spoke at all. ... I was transformed in such an amazing way."

The actress has returned from her latest trip overseas -- to a camp housing Darfur refugees in Chad. She returned to New Orleans, where she and Brad Pitt have set up home temporarily while he films a new movi and they both work on post-Katrina rebuilding efforts.

"[We] realized it was a place we liked, we liked the people, I liked the school for the kids," she says of the New Orleans. "They're very diverse. I liked the other parents.

"I feel very comfortable with them. We're happy having our children here. Brad is working on rebuilding here. ... But for me, just as a mom, I love the other parents and the kids and the schools. I'm starting to work on the education here and the school system here. There's a lot of work to be done."

Source: PEOPLE