Angelina Jolie has been named the ‘godmother’ of the new beekeeping program.
The Maleficent star has teamed up with the 2021 Women for Bees program to be named the initiative’s ‘godmother’, which will see her meet with the women taking part in the scheme and training to be beekeepers.
The scheme’s goal is to have trained 50 women within the next five years, as well as building 2,500 hives in 25 Unesco biosphere reserves, and restocking 125 million bees.
Doing good: Angelina Jolie has been named the ‘godmother’ of the new beekeeping program. The Maleficent star has teamed up with the 2021 Women for Bees program to be named the initiative’s ‘godmother’, which will see her meet with the women taking part in the scheme and training to be beekeepers. Seen in 2019
In a statement, Angelina – who will meet the beekeepers in training and track their progress – said: ‘When women gain skills and knowledge their instinct is to help raise others.
‘I’m excited to meet the women taking part in this program from all over the world.
‘I look forward to getting to know them and learning about their culture and environment and the role bees play in that. I hope the training will strengthen their independence, their livelihoods, and their communities.’
Help on the way: The scheme’s goal is to have trained 50 women within the next five years, as well as building 2,500 hives in 25 Unesco biosphere reserves, and restocking 125 million bees; a stock image of a bee in February
Bee time: In a statement, Angelina – who will meet the beekeepers in training and track their progress – said: ‘When women gain skills and knowledge their instinct is to help raise others. ‘I’m excited to meet the women taking part in this program from all over the world’; stock image
The 25 Unesco biosphere reserves are located in countries including France, Italy, Russia, Slovenia, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and China.
According to Harper’s Bazaar, the program will take 30 days to complete and will begin in June this year at the French Observatory of Apidology (OFA) in Provence.
The publication reported: ‘The training will be led by the OFA, aimed to teach participants about running their own apiaries, the protocols to sustain their bee colonies, how to become professional beekeeper-entrepreneurs, and more.’
The kids: She has Maddox, 19, Pax, 17, Zahara, 16, Shiloh, 14, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 12, with former husband Pitt; seen in 2018 in Paris
Angelina’s involvement in the program comes as the latest humanitarian cause the actress has championed.
The 45-year-old star is known for her support of various social causes, and has worked with the United Nations (UN) on a number of humanitarian aid missions, including being named the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) special envoy.
She told Vogue she is not a traditional parent
Meanwhile, her ex husband Brad Pitt has been shooting the film Bullet Train with Sandra Bullock and Joey King.
This comes after she told Vogue she does not think she is ‘good’ at being a ‘traditional’ parent.
The actress – who has Maddox, 19, Pax, 17, Zahara, 16, Shiloh, 14, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 12, with former husband Pitt – always knew she wanted a large family but she has had to adapt to staying at home amid the coronavirus pandemic because she always envisaged a future where they were constantly roaming the world and having adventures.
She said: ‘I was never very good at sitting still. Even though I wanted to have many children and be a mom, I always imagined it kind of like Jane Goodall, travelling in the middle of the jungle somewhere.
‘I didn’t imagine it in that true, traditional sense. I feel like I’m lacking in all the skills to be a traditional stay-at-home mom.
‘I’m managing through it because the children are quite resilient, and they’re helping me, but I’m not good at it at all.’
The Gia actress thinks it’s funny that her children are so protective of her when she’s playing outside with them.
She told the new issue of Britain’s Vogue magazine: ‘I’m looking forward to my fifties – I feel that I’m gonna hit my stride in my fifties.
Movie man: Meanwhile, her ex husband Pitt has been shooting the film Bullet Train with Sandra Bullock and Joey King; seen in 2019
‘Though we were on the trampoline the other day, and the children said, ‘No, Mom, don’t do that. You’ll hurt yourself.’ And I thought, ‘God, isn’t that funny?’ There was a day I was an action star, and now the kids are telling me to get off the trampoline because I’ll hurt myself.’
While she’s looking forward to getting older, the Tomb Raider star hopes she always retains the ‘spirit of youth’.
She said: ‘Maybe it’s just the young punk in me but I like the spirit of the youth. I believe they can see right and wrong with more clarity. I see a lot of older people making excuses for certain behaviours, and it tends to be the younger person who is quicker to say, ‘But this is simply wrong, and we stand against it.’ I’ve wanted to remain that person.’