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• Ms. Milano's official site
• UNICEF

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Tavis: We all know actress Alyssa Milano's prime time TV work. Shows like 'Who's the Boss?' and now the WB's 'Charmed,' but what you may not know about Alyssa is her passionate efforts on behalf of children as an ambassador, in fact, for UNICEF. This past summer she traveled to Angola, visiting HIV testing centers and young land mine victims. And this was not her first trip to Africa. She previously spent 3 months in South Africa, volunteering at a children's hospital. Before we get to all of that, a scene now from 'Charmed', which airs Sunday nights on the WB.

Man: So, the seer told you something.

Leo: Yes. She told us that the avatar's future is a utopia.

Man: That's impossible.

Phoebe: I've seen it.

Man: It's gonna take more than that.

Phoebe: That's why I'm here to show it to you.

Tavis: Alyssa Milano, I'm ‘charmed' to meet you.

Alyssa Milano: Well, thank you. Thanks for the opportunity.

Tavis: How's your mother doing?

Alyssa: My mom's good.

Tavis: I ask that question because, like, I know your mama.

Alyssa: Everyone knows my mama.

Tavis: I was on--when Leeza Gibbons had a daytime talk show years ago, I was on a daytime show with your mom. We had a great time together.

Alyssa: She's a special woman.

Tavis: How's the show coming?

Alyssa: The show's great. We're in our seventh season.

Tavis: 7 years.

Alyssa: I know. We're like the little show that could. And we're having a great time still, so we'll see what happens.

Tavis: There are a lot of folk in town who are jealous of you. It must be nice to have, like, a couple different series that run for multiple years.

Alyssa: How blessed am I, right? I know. 'Who's the Boss?' went for 8 seasons, and 'Charmed' is on its seventh, and I did 'Melrose Place' for a couple of years, so I've been blessed in that area.

Tavis: Yeah. I wanna move off of this quickly because I suspect by now you're probably tired of being asked about making that transition from child star to being a grown-up Alyssa Milano. Are you over those questions now?

Alyssa: It's part of my life, you know? So you can ask them if you want to.

Tavis: I don't wanna ask them. I'm just asking if you're tired of being asked.

Alyssa: No. I would say the one question that gets a little boring is 'If you had a magical power, what would it be?' Tavis?

Tavis: I'm not gonna ask that question.

Alyssa: How about you? If you had a magical power, what would it be?

Tavis: Not gonna ask. That's a good question. I don't know that I would call it a magical power, but I have been asked, you know--well, let me answer the question in this way. I would like to be a great deal smarter than I am. In the Bible, when God gave King Solomon whatever he wanted, Solomon asked for riches--he was no fool. He got riches, but he asked for wisdom. I think I would just like to be a lot deeper, a lot smarter, a lot brighter than what I really am. I just love the-- I love learning. I love information. I love knowledge, and I think I would just like to even be smarter than whatever I think I am.

Alyssa: They say the wisest ones are the ones who admit to not being the wisest, which makes you very wise. There you go. I granted it. There you go.

Tavis: She granted me--I like that. All right. I'm wiser than I even thought. You gotta come around more often, Alyssa. Let me ask you, what drew you to Africa? Because when you think of Alyssa Milano, you think of 'Who's the Boss?', you think 'Charmed', you don't think South Africa. You don't think Angola. What drew you there?

Alyssa: I've always had a bizarre connection with Africa. I've always sought out to see every movie made about Africa or documentaries or National Geographic specials. And I got the opportunity--I was actually there to do a mini-series. And I worked one day a week. And I was so overwhelmed with the dichotomy of the land, the beauty, and then you look down, you know, from the mountains out of your car, you see a lot of hard things like little kids sniffing glue.

And within the second week of being there, I saw an amazing sight, which were two little street kids, and I think they were brothers, although I don't know. And it was pouring rain, and the older street kid took off his jacket and put it around the younger boy, and I lost it. And the next day, I actively pursued volunteering, and I wound up volunteering in a children's hospital in a township there, doing whatever I could.

And it changed my life to the extent that when I came back home, I had a really hard adjustment period. I went through about six months of depression because I had such an incredible journey there, and learned so much about myself, and really discovered this whole new side of my being that I'd never tapped into before, and had nowhere to channel it being back home. And I started getting really angry ‘cause I felt like every day it was gonna occupy a smaller part of my heart. So it changed my life drastically, and, you know, when I try to explain Africa to people, I say, you know, it's this magical place, and it's so special, and that's why they make movies about it. Because everyone's trying to capture that essence. It was amazing.

Tavis: How has it impacted your work? Not the work you do on behalf of UNICEF, but the work that you do? Your craft.

Alyssa: It's interesting. It's really affected it, but not in the creative sense. Well, in the creative sense it's affected my artwork and my writing and my photography. But as far as my professional career, it's motivated me to wanna be more successful so I have a stronger voice to effect more change.

Tavis: So you want 'Charmed' to run 14 seasons instead of 7. Um, what most impacted you--I mean, you just told a story a moment ago that was very moving. What did you learn in Angola on this most recent trip that most surprised you?

Alyssa: Well, in Angola, I mean, I think the most important thing to realize about that country, it was devastated by 40 years of civil war. And they've only experienced peace in the last two years. So, for me, I got a real hands-on experience of what war does to a country and how it affects the social fabric and the economic fabric and the health care systems and clean water and these things that you don't really think about. You think, 'Oh, peace, great. Everything's back to normal.' But the struggle continues. Angola has a huge problem with land mines. You know, I believe that no weapon should outlast a war. And they're still fighting the war because these land mines haven't been, you know, found, and kids are still dying.

Tavis: You may have just answered the question I want to ask now. Are there lessons, though, that you learned, to your phraseology, visiting this magical place, lessons you learned there about life and about yourself even, that you could not have learned here?

Alyssa: Absolutely. I think the most profound experience, learning experience was the fact that no matter what a human being goes through, we have the innate resilience to prevail.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Alyssa: And that these people and cultures socially have struggled from so much to get where they are, and they never lose hope. These kids' faces are open and filled with love and hope for tomorrow. And sometimes it's hard, you know, what we've been going through as a country for the last four years which has affected me, to wake up and feel hope. The fact that these people have overcome so much and are still looking for a brighter tomorrow no matter what they've been through and seen and witnessed in their lives. And they've witnessed quite a bit.

Tavis: Puts Thanksgiving in perspective, doesn't it?

Alyssa: Oh, absolutely.

Tavis: We're going to look at some pictures right here that you brought with us--brought with you, I should say for, us. First picture of you in South Africa?

Alyssa: Yeah, that was at a township that I went to. That was a little girl named Carmen.

Tavis: Little girl named Carmen.

Alyssa: We're soul sisters.

Tavis: All right. Ha ha. This picture here?

Alyssa: This is in Angola, in Luanda, which is the capital. I'm getting an AIDS test. It's at a clinic, an HIV clinic where they do free testing and counseling. They have a very unique situation in Angola, because there was only one road in and out of the country during the war, so AIDS didn't really infiltrate it the way it had in other African countries. But now that everybody who was displaced and who were refugees that went to other countries are coming back to Angola, they're finding that the numbers are increasing, so they're in a touchy situation right now.

Tavis: This photo here?

Alyssa: I'm giving a vitamin A supplement to a little baby, vaccinating her. $1.00 actually can vaccinate with vitamin A supplements up to 60 children and prevent them from blindness.

Tavis: It really does amaze me how little--for how little money our impact can really be felt.

Alyssa: It's unbelievable. This was a little boy at a center where they actually fit and do physical therapy for land mine victims. He didn't have a leg, and it was his birthday this day and I took a picture of him and showed him on my camera, and he was obviously very happy.

Tavis: And finally?

Alyssa: This is me walking through an active land mine. This is a picture--

Tavis: Have you lost your mind?!

Alyssa: My mama doesn't like this picture. Ha ha ha!

Tavis: Ha ha ha! Walking through an active land mine. That's not a movie set.

Alyssa: Yes. That was with the Halo Trust Organization. They do great work there, and it's amazing the process that they have to go through to actually dig them up and I got to detonate one as well, which was pretty incredible. There's one land mine for every child in Angola, and children make up 60% of the population.

Tavis: Were you scared walking through there? That's a silly question.

Alyssa: It was a little scary, honestly. I was trying to be brave, because I will do anything that I possibly can, you know, to help the country, but because it's a very narrow pathway and it's roped off with red sticks, which tells you that on the other side of these red sticks there are land mines, and one little fast move--so, yeah, it was a little frightening.

Tavis: I got props for Alyssa Milano.

Alyssa: Thank you.

Tavis: Not only are you doing good work in Africa, the continent of Africa and the country of Angola, but indeed, the nerve to walk through an active land mine field to make the point is significant, so thank you for coming.

Alyssa: Thank you very much for having me.

Tavis: Happy holidays to you.

Alyssa: You, too.

Tavis: That's our show for tonight. You can catch me on the radio on NPR. As always, I'll see you back here next time on PBS. Thanks for watching. Good night from L.A. And keep the faith.