Brad and Jolie's £170,000 gift

Gift: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
11 April 2012
The Weekender

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Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have thanked the impoverished African nation where their daughter Shiloh was born by giving nearly £170,000 to help other babies

The donation will pay for equipment for the maternity wards at Namibia's state hospitals in Walvis Bay and Swakopmund.

"We want to contribute to Namibia and the people who have been so gracious to us at this time," Pitt and Jolie said in a statement.

The couple have been holed up at a luxury seaside retreat in the country since April to try to avoid the media spotlight as they awaited the birth of their first biological child.

The Namibian government rallied to help them, putting tight security around their hotel and the hospital where baby Shiloh was born and setting up large barriers on the beach to shield them from the long lenses.

Foreign journalists were refused visas unless they had written permission from Jolie and Pitt, and police also arrested photographers and confiscated film.

Deputy environment and tourism deputy minister Leon Jooste said the couple's donation of 300,000 dollars would "contribute significantly" to the health of Namibian babies.

They also gave 15,000 dollars (£8,000) to a school and community centre they recently visited in the Mondesa area of Swakopmund.

Mr Jooste said the family would remain in Namibia "for some time" to allow Jolie and Shiloh to recuperate before travelling.

The tiny girl is to be offered Namibian citizenship.

She was born on Saturday at the private Welwitschia Clinic in Walvis Bay.

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