Before Christmas, there were several stories in various outlets about how Brad Pitt was going to spend his birthday and Christmas with three of his six children. Zahara is now 14 years old, and so it seems like she’s old enough to decide her custody/visitation for herself. And Zahara has opted out of spending time with Brad Pitt, just like Maddox and Pax have opted out. Now Brad only gets to see the three youngest Jolie-Pitt kids, Shiloh, Vivienne and Knox. My guess is that even though Angelina has been filming The Eternals in England for several months, she still had to come “home” to LA so that she could fulfill the visitation requirements and all of that. And maybe she wanted to spend Christmas in LA. But she definitely didn’t want to spend New Year’s Eve in LA. Days after Christmas, Angelina took her four youngest kids to Ethiopia. I guess Brad didn’t get to see them after Christmas huh? Incidentally, there are some exclusive pics of Brad leaving Puerto Vallarta (a vacation spot in Mexico) on NYE, so it looks like he jetted out of LA after Christmas too. As for Angelina’s Ethiopia trip, she and Shiloh and Zahara met Ethiopia’s president:

Angelina Jolie is returning to a place close to her heart. The actress, 44, visited Ethiopia with four of her kids — Shiloh, 13, and Zahara, 14, who was born in the African country, as well as 11-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne. The family will stay in the region for New Year’s Eve.

While there, Jolie brought Shiloh and Zahara to meet with Sahle-Work Zewde, the president of Ethiopia and the first woman to hold the office. It was a special treat for Zahara, who turns 15 on Jan. 8. Their talks covered education, sanitary pad solutions to help girls continue their schooling (girls often stay home from class while menstruating due to lack of supplies), and Ethiopian culture and history. The group also discussed Jolie’s ongoing efforts to treat drug-resistant tuberculosis.

The actress and activist has funded efforts for over a decade through the Zahara Program, named after her daughter. The Jolie Pitt Foundation partnered with the Global Health Committee and the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health in 2009 to create an initiative to treat drug-resistant TB. Their work has led to continuing success in treating people with TB in the region.

[From People]

That’s cool that she brought the younger kids to Ethiopia and that Shiloh and Zahara got to meet the president. As you can see in the photos below, Zahara seemed to get dressed up in an appropriate ensemble, while… Shiloh wore jeans and a windbreaker? I’m all for Let Shiloh Be Shiloh, but no – Angelina should have asked Shiloh to put on a better outfit. Shi looks like she’s about to hang out at the skate park. That’s my only complaint! The rest of this is very cool.

#Ethiopia Renowned Actress, Film maker and Humanitarian Angelina Jolie had an audience with President @SahleWorkZewde. https://t.co/t750wlNCHo ”Angelina said she was in Ethiopia to discuss refugees and to explore the opportunities to work on women and children.” pic.twitter.com/O410aXx1Ld

— Addis Standard (@addisstandard) December 31, 2019

Photos courtesy of Backgrid and WENN.