The Diary of Angelina Jolie and Dr. Jeffrey Sachs in Africa is available in its entirety for you to watch when you want - on demand on MTV Overdrive.
Extreme poverty means walking long distances barefoot to collect safe drinking water. It's a hospital overflowing with patients dying from diseases that are treatable and preventable. More than 1 billion people face extreme poverty living on less than one dollar a day, and more than 22,000 people die every day from extreme poverty and preventable diseases - needlessly.
The facts are staggering - but there is hope. There is a now feasible plan to end extreme poverty in our lifetime, and Sauri, a cluster of villages in Western Kenya, helps to show the world how we can make that happen.
In this special think MTV episode of Diary, actress and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie journeys to Kenya with the world's leading expert on poverty, Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Special Advisor to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the Millennium Development Goals. On their journey, they witness how the challenges of hunger, disease and isolation in Africa are being overcome in this small village beset by hunger, AIDS, and malaria.
Spending two long days in Sauri, Sachs exposes Jolie to every corner of village life to reveal his vision for ending extreme poverty by 2015. In a small hut, he demonstrates how a simple $10.00 bed net keeps families safe from Malaria, a disease that kills over three million people every year. In an open field, Jolie learns how basic instruction in proper farming techniques and fertilizer use can produce enough food to keep villagers alive on land that has failed to yield sustainable crops for generations. And, in a moving sequence featuring the town's young people, Jolie discovers how free school lunches are giving children a reason to come to class and learn - and that one computer is connecting this tiny village to the rest of the world.
The images and stories that often emanate from Africa are bleak. But, The Diary of Angelina Jolie and Dr. Jeffrey Sachs in Africa offers actual solutions to famine, plague, and conflict. Thanks to the vision of Dr. Sachs and the humanitarian concerns of Jolie - Sauri has a message for the rest of the world - it is alive and fighting back.
For the first time in history, there is a feasible plan to end extreme poverty in our lifetime, and you can help make it happen:
Learn The Goal: "We will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected."
In September 2000, leaders from nearly 200 countries made this special declaration at the United Nations. These world leaders agreed upon a set of eight measurable goals - the Millennium Development Goals - to reduce extreme poverty, disease and hunger by 2015.
Get Educated - Learn The Facts: If the Millennium Development Goals are achieved by 2015, 30 million children will be saved and 500 million people will be lifted out of extreme poverty. These results will only be achieved once a critical mass of people - particularly young people - join the fight.
Learn the harsh facts about the devastating impact of disease and poverty.
Get Money To Do Good: Do you have a project that you think can help make a difference? Think MTV and Youth Venture have teamed up to help you pay for that project. We're issuing grants of up to $1,000 each week to teams of two or more young people who are organizing efforts in their community to make a difference on a range of domestic and global issues.
Learn about the types of programs we're funding, read the rules and download an application.
Download A Youth Action Guide: Do you want to help but don't know how to go about it?
Global Youth Action Network and Taking It Global have developed an action guide to help you plan and organize your own activities to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals, and get your friends involved.
Represent - Wear A White Band: The global symbol of the global campaign to make poverty history is a white band.
Visit ONE.org to get your bracelet.