Pictured: Angelina Jolie's daughters Shiloh and Zahara follow in her charitable footsteps by donating clothes and bonding with disadvantaged Cambodian children
Daily Mail | 13 January 2016
Angelina Jolie's daughters Shiloh and Zahara are following in her charitable footsteps by sponsoring a family of Cambodian slum children.
The Hollywood star's eldest daughters may live in the lap of luxury but have formed a bond with some of the poorest children while in South East Asia as their mother makes her latest movie, First They Killed my Father.
Leida Shoun, 16, who has twelve brothers and sisters, initially approached Shiloh, nine, and Zahara, 10, when they and father Brad Pitt stopped for ice cream in the town of Siem Reap, and they were so moved by her family's plight they are now sponsoring them.
On separate occasions the two girls took the kids out and treated them to new sets of clothes totalling $200 – a small fortune in a country where a T-shirt costs less than a dollar - trips to a games arcade and two brand new bikes.
Sweet charity: Shiloh Jolie-Pitt bought clothes for local disadvantaged children in Siem Reap during the family's recent visit to Cambodia
Just like Mom: The nine-year-old is following in Angelina Jolie's footsteps by helping a local family
Speaking with the permission of her father, Mansaret, 40, Leida told us: 'We only had one bicycle for the entire family and it was old, so for us this is an amazing gift.
'Shiloh and Zahara and their family are very good people. We have known them for a while, they sponsor us.
'I play with Shiloh or Zahara, they meet us in Siem Reap town and we all play together.
'They take us to the arcade in the Angkor Centre, they are all very nice people. I like it when we play ball.'
Leida and her siblings - aged between 23 and 16 months - live in a small tin shack in the slum district of Mundal Bai in Siem Reap with their mother and father.
Giving back: Zahara accompanied the family to buy them two brand new bikes
The family were in South East Asia while Angelina worked on her latest movie, First They Killed my Father
Although they live in the shadow of the temples at World Heritage site Angkor Wat, the family are ignored by the thousands of tourists from around the world who stream in each day.
Trash is strewn across the clandestine dirt road, which has no house numbers and beer adverts can be seen hanging from shops while a number of 'Karaoke' bars – Cambodian shorthand for brothels – line the bottom end of the street.
Water is provided by a small hand pump and the family also collect rainwater in a stone tub outside their four-room house to wash in.
Leida Shoun, 16, said the Jolie-Pitt's now sponsor her family. 'Shiloh and Zahara and their family are very good people,' she added
However, they feel they are lucky because they have a television, powered by a battery.
Leida says her father doesn't work because he's old and 'too sick.'
The aid money they receive helps pay for rice, other food and clothes – although the large family are still among the poorest.
Leida added: 'We get money for rice, clothes and shoes. It has made a big difference to our lives, we get by now we are sponsored – living is easier for us.'
Leida and her brother Ploy, eight, are the only two in the family who speak any English and on the day we met them they proudly brandished bags with the clothes they had been bought by Shiloh and her minder at the local Angkor Trade Centre.
Shopkeeper Keo Sokhen said the Jolie-Pitt clan spent $30 on clothes for the kids in her store, adding: 'The young girl paid the money. They also bought things in other shops too. The Cambodian children were very good, very well behaved, and very excited to have new clothes.
Leida and her 12 siblings live in a small tin shack in the slum district of Mundal Bai in Siem Reap with their mother and father
'They are some of the poorest, who do not have a lot of education or much of a start in life.'
Forty-year-old Angelina's charitable interests are well documented and she has done a great deal of work for refugees, people displaced by war and others as a UN Special Envoy in countries around the world.
She recently told Vogue magazine how Shiloh had already started taking an interest in her humanitarian efforts when accompanying her on a field visit, saying: 'When she was sitting on the floor with her UN cap writing her notes as she was talking to someone, I was flashing on myself fifteen years ago and thinking, I know that moment.'
Leida's family came from the countryside to Siem Reap four years ago with the hope of work. Her oldest sister, Pia, lives and works with her husband in Thailand and helps send a little money back to her family.
Leida's brother Ploy, eight, and sister proudly showed off clothes they had been bought by Shiloh and her minder at the local Angkor Trade Centre
The children hope to remain friends with Shiloh and Zahara and hope their famous mother even comes to visit them.
Leida added: 'I would love for Shiloh, Zahara and Angelina to all come here and visit our home. We would give them tea and show them around our neighbourhood. It is a good place to live, but there are so many people here and they are all so poor. We are lucky.'
Leida dropped out of school two years ago because it was costing too much and she needed to help her family.
However, she hopes to one day go back into education and become a doctor, adding: 'I want to help other people, and be good. It takes a long time to learn to be a doctor, but that's not a problem for me, I really want to do it.'
Shiloh likes to spend time with the family at an local arcade or play ball
While Leida isn't receiving any education, Ploy attends a local school, which is free, set up by the New Hope Foundation charity, which is dedicated to improving the lives of people in their area.
She said: 'My brother goes to the New Hope school, it is free and he walks there every day. I have to pay to go to government school, but we cannot pay it.'
Ron Carter from the New Hope Foundation said the charity, based in the area, are in the process of building a new school which will meet government standards to go alongside their existing free school – and when their new premises are complete they will teach a Khmer approved syllabus, and also be free.
He explained: 'Between 50 to 60 per cent of children in Cambodia never finish primary school. For most children to go they have to pay. Families in poor areas can't afford to eat, let alone send their kids to school.
'We're building a Khmer education school here, so that will hopefully change things for this part of town - but there's still got a long way to go.'
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