Hilary Swank has told how she was inspired by her visit to schools in Ethiopia and will carry it with her “in my heart”.

The Oscar-winning actress made an emotional journey to Ethiopia with Unicef and Montblanc, to see the work they are doing to help give all children the opportunity to learn to read and write.

Hilary said: “It’s been truly incredible, it’s been inspiring, and I look forward to sharing with my friends and my family all that I’ve learned and carrying these young people’s words with me in my heart.

“And to travel to Ethiopia for the first time, a place I’ve always wanted to come, it’s lived up to my expectations.”

She added: “I’ve travelled extensively and worked with a lot of children in a lot of different countries, and I think what is the most incredible is their desire to learn. I’ve been all over Africa but this was my first time in Ethiopia.

“We’re visiting a school, we’ve met a bunch of children here, we’ve given them some books and we were able to communicate even though we don’t speak the same language so it’s pretty incredible.”

The Million Dollar Baby star witnessed the success of the Child-to-Child programme which sets up older students to help pre-school aged children to learn to read and write and help prevent them dropping out of school.

Hilary said: “We met a 14-year-old girl who is a tutor. They were concerned that her grades were going to fall because she’s spending so much time with these kids, but it turns out in helping them, it just helps her improve as well.

“It was really nice to meet them and see what they’re learning, how they’re learning and how the Child-to-Child programme actually works.”

Source: http://www.independent.ie

Added screencaptures from BBC movie’s Mary and Martha. It is really beautiful and heartbreaking movie.

GALLERY LINKS:
- Movies Mary & Martha > Screen Captures

Hilary and Laurent Fleury take his 2 children and a friend cycle down Abbot Kinny after lunch at Gjelina’s at Venice Beach.

GALLERY LINKS:
- Candids March 2, 2013

Richard Curtis appears on Lorraine to talk about Mary and Martha. Starring Hilary Swank and Brenda Blethyn, this powerful film is about two women, bought together through the shared tragedy of losing a child. Watch it on BBC One, at 8:30pm, on Friday the 1st March.

OSCAR winning actress Hilary Swank has travelled to Ethiopia as a representative of UNICEF and Montblanc to learn more about the importance of education and the opportunities that it brings in some of the more disadvantaged communities in the world.

Visiting a countryside beyond the Ethiopian capital, Hilary Swank witnessed the success of the Child-to-Child (CTC) pre-primary education in providing preschool-aged children with early learning at the Dima Guranda Primary School in the Sebeta District, Oromia Region. Through the hard work of young facilitators, usually older students, CTC has become a winning model to prevent children from dropping out of primary school.

In Ethiopia alone, support from Montblanc has contributed to the establishment of 2,400 and rehabilitation of 800 Alternative Basic Education Centres reaching 846,000 children including many orphans and pastoralists. Providing children with quality basic education will in turn give them significantly better chances in life.

Source: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/

Hilary Swank turns up at the Emporio Armani Caffe on Boulevard Saint-Germain apologizing like mad.

“I hate being late,” she says, though by Parisian standards, arriving only 10 minutes after the appointed hour is almost punctual. The reason, she explains, is that her boyfriend has a new puppy. She shows me a photo of a little chocolate-coloured Labrador. “Who doesn’t love puppies and kittens?” And of course I instantly forgive her.

According to the tabloids, her boyfriend is French, which would no doubt explain her presence in Paris; the paparazzi have been keeping an eye on her since her eight-year marriage to Chad Lowe ended in 2006. And to look at her, she could almost be a native Parisienne; she’s wearing the sort of weather-appropriate casual chic — black sweater, skirt and parka — that allows one to look perfectly at home on the Rive Gauche on a chilly winter’s morning.

Like many film actresses, Swank looks more petite in the flesh than she does on screen, with not a scrap of makeup, red lacquered fingernails her only concession to cosmetic adornment. Her hair is loose but glossily immaculate, and I am so smitten by her flat-heeled black boots (“I think these are Marc Jacobs from maybe eight years ago”) that she graciously allows me to stroke them; I had no idea patent leather existed in a form so soft to the touch.

Hilary looks amazing in Valentino Haute Couture at Vanity Fair Oscars party. She was accompanied by Laurent Fleury.

GALLERY LINKS:
- Events Vanity Fair Oscar Party > February 24 2013