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In Sudan, Farrow said she had been involved in helping developing world children for several decades.

“By reaching out to others, I’ve found a life that is meaningful,” she said.

She described how her own privileged childhood in Beverly Hills as the daughter of film director John Farrow and movie star Maureen O’Sullivan was interrupted when she caught polio at the age of nine.

“It gave me some perspective and made me discover the other world, of pain, and fear,” she said.

After her first marriage to singer Frank Sinatra, she began adopting children from poor countries, beginning in 1973 with an orphan from the Vietnam War. Farrow, who had three sons with her second husband, musician Andre Previn, and one with film director Woody Allen, is the mother of 14.

“These children were the first significant commitment I made to others,” said the actress, who also became active in the campaign against polio and in a charity headed by Nelson Mandela before becoming a Unicef ambassador 10 years ago.

While visiting Angola with Unicef after the war there in 2002, she caught malaria and nearly became deaf because of subsequent treatment.

Reckless or responsible?
She brought her 17-year-old son, Ronan, along to Sudan. He recently underwent a knee operation and hobbled by her side on crutches as the pair visited several volatile refugee camps.

“I don’t think I’m reckless, and I hope I’m a responsible mother,” she said, acknowledging that she knew there were some dangers to traveling through Darfur.

“There are certain risks worth taking, and there are certain inactions that are inexcusable,” she said. “You’ve got to stand with what you believe in.”

Farrow recalled one woman in Darfur telling of witnessing janjaweed militia killing her husband and two of her children, and then turning on her.

“She couldn’t even remember how many times they raped her,” Farrow said, clutching a necklace of amulets the woman gave her, telling her they would keep her safe.

“I was speechless, I had nothing to give back to ensure her own safety,” Farrow said. She said she could only promise to tell her story to the world, hoping such accounts would force the world to take action. She said she would plead for the international community to hasten the arrival of U.N. peacekeepers here.

“Her story is sacred,” Farrow said.

“I just wish I could be more famous, or more powerful, so that my voice would carry further when I speak about Darfur,” she said.

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