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.

Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief

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