Hollywood starlet Natalie Portman is currently filming a special clip in support of a youth village being planned in Rwanda. The Israeli American actress is taking part in an effort, spearheaded by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and financed by American Jewish donors, to create a safe place for some 500 children-turned-refugees from the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The early Israeli villages built for children orphaned in the Holocaust inspired the concept.

Portman, who was recently named Maxim magazine’s sexiest vegetarian, will screen her film on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to publicize this effort.

So far, plans for the housing project have been shrouded in secrecy. It has been revealed by Haaretz that Portman was recently in Africa, but she is remaining tight lipped about the youth village and is not allowing any photos to be taken of her in Africa until after the film has aired.

This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.

We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.

This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.

With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

Don't just read the Forward - invest in it. Make a matched gift today.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$120 $180 $360 OTHER AMOUNT