Scarlett Johansson urging Americans to volunteer at home
Actress Scarlett Johansson is urging Americans to forgo global volunteer trips and recognize the needs of people in their own communities.
The Lost in Translation star recently traveled to East Africa as an ambassador for charity organization Oxfam and, as part of her trip, she witnessed first-hand the famine and devastation millions of people face every day throughout Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.
But, while the kindhearted star feels lucky to be able help those
less fortunate in faraway places, Johansson is encouraging her fans
to make a difference in their own backyards because poverty and
problems are just as prevalent in the United States.
She tells Interview magazine, "You don’t even have to go
that far. There are people in America who are absolutely desperate
right now, who have no means to support their families, who have no
opportunities to better themselves or their education - and
they’re not that different from the farmers and
working-class people that I visited when I went to Kenya with
Oxfam.
"Whether they’re in America or in Africa, people want to
work. They want to have purpose. They want to provide for
themselves and their families."