By Ashley Parker on
Save the Children has a special project called Rewrite the Future and Ben Stiller has joined it. Supported by Italian jewelry company Bulgari, the star traveled to northeastern Uganda.
Rewrite the Future’s goal is to provide an education for 8 million children in countries that are most difficult to act in. They provide necessary supplies, books and uniforms. The campaign started in 2005, and they hope to achieve their goals by 2010.
This was Stiller’s first trip to Africa. He said, “The goal of Rewrite the Future was really to go to the children in the most affected areas, the hardest to reach, and try to help them gain access to education.” He wanted to make an effort to help this dream become a reality. In Karamoja, Stiller visited different projects established by the charity, and was able to spend time with the children. He said the “aim is to integrate [an educational framework] into the fabric of what’s going on there, from the inside out…it’s about helping people to help themselves. It’s different from delivering a shipment of grain. It’s really about connecting with people.”
Stiller had only seen Africa on television before this trip, and was taken aback by what his eyes beheld. He began to see what life was really like for these children and their families. For a while he was afraid that his celebrity status would void the good work he could’ve been doing. However, that changed for him. “As a person, and seeing what’s going on in the world, there’s only so much you can take before you go ’I’ve just got to try to do something, whether it seems cynical or not.’” It may seem some celebrities do charity work for the wrong reasons, or that some don’t do enough. He decided to put the children before himself and do what he could to help.
In Uganda, like many other underdeveloped nations, education is less of a priority than simple survival. Stiller wanted to promote the importance of education so that the children are able to grow up and take care of themselves, living comfortable lives instead of struggling to survive.
Even though Stiller has returned to the United States, his efforts to raise awareness will continue. He is currently working on a film called Help Me Spread Goodness. It is about a victim of a Nigerian email scam who goes to Nigeria in search of the man who scammed him. In the meantime, the victim’s eyes are opened to the reality of the harshness of life in that country.
Stiller also went on another trip with Rewrite the Future to Haiti.
Copyright © 2009 Look to the Stars
