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A-lister Ben Affleck addressed the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs on Thursday (March 26).

Wife Jennifer Garner and their 9-year-old daughter Violet proudly watched as the Oscar winner, 42, who founded the Eastern Congo Initiative in 2010, sat next to Bill Gates and testified about the importance of foreign aid in Africa.

Not present were Ben and Jen’s younger kids, daughter Seraphina, 6, and son Samuel, 3.

The Gone Girl actor posted several images of his trip to Congo on Instagram.

“I made my first trip to Congo seven years ago after reading about the two decades of conflict the Congolese people had endured,” he wrote. “I expected to find hopelessness, but the people I encountered, like these former child soldiers, were among the most courageous and resilient I could imagine. #EasternCongo #DRC.”

He captioned another touching photo: “Gender-based violence is another sad legacy of the war in #DRC. Many of @EasternCongo’s partners, like HEAL Africa and Panzi Hospital, work with communities to provide valuable medial services and education for survivors of this violence.”

I made my first trip to Congo seven years ago after reading about the two decades of conflict the Congolese people had endured. I expected to find hopelessness, but the people I encountered, like these former child soldiers, were among the most courageous and resilient I could imagine. #EasternCongo #DRC Photo by Conrad Thorpe

A photo posted by Ben Affleck (@benaffleck) on Mar 26, 2015 at 10:10am PDT

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