Everything came together on time, at least on the technical front.  (Hillary Clinton was scheduled to appear but fell and broke her elbow. Anderson Cooper had plane troubles). But Angelina Jolie was there and spoke live to the refugees in Chad via VSee.

The rehearsal

Pam Omidyar saying hi to Gabriel and group in Chad

Rahma and Annette in Chad, Yuen-Lin and Evan at DC podium

VSee disaster-tolerant broadcast setup in control room - secondary/co-ordination node on left, primary/video node on right

Live sound check with Chad

Yuen-Lin Tan and Milton Chen in the control room

VSee CEO Milton Chen - everything works!

The live event

Ann Curry speaking to group in Chad

Rose Mapendo (recipient of 2009 Humanitarian of the Year Award) speaks while group in Chad looks on

Ann Curry, Dept of State rep, Angelina Jolie, UNHCR High Commissioner Antonio Gutierrez

Rahma and Annette from Chad addressing the DC audience

Acting Assistant US Secretary of State Samuel Witten, Anglina Jolie and UN High Commissioner António Guterres delighted to see and talk with group in Chad through VSee

At an event marking the launch of activities for World Refugee Day on June 20, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie appeared today alongside UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres to call on the world to recognise millions of victims of conflict around the world not as a burden but as a potential gift.

As an American, she said, “I know the strength that diversity has given my country — a country built by what some would now dismiss as asylum-seekers and economic migrants — and I believe we must persuade the world that refugees must not be simply viewed as a burden. They are the survivors. And they can bring those qualities to the service of their communities and the countries that shelter them.”

“The refugees I have met and spent time with have profoundly changed my life, “Jolie added. “Today, on World Refugee Day, I want to thank them for letting me into their lives.”

Jolie was speaking at an event at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C., hosted by UNHCR and moderated by NBC television anchor Ann Curry. The event used VSee to provide a live two-way conversation between the Djabal refugee camp in eastern Chad and the assembled audience in Washington.