Sienna Miller is raising awareness -- awearness? -- for the International Medical Corps, which provides health care for people around the world in dire need. The actress traveled through the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo with her best friend Tori, Margeret Aguirre from the IMC and documentary filmmaker David Serota, who served as cinematographer for the humanitarian trip. She just returned to London on Monday, May 4, but her blog posts chronicling nine days in Africa -- from Rwanda to the Congo -- are on the Take Part website. These blog posts do not conjure the usual Hollywood starlet channeling Audrey Hepburn. The blog posts contain raw, emotional and acutely personal observations that any sane person would have in the aftermath of war. From her blog on Takepart.com. An example:

The stories I hear are again, harrowing. I met a mother who was running away from a group of militia three days earlier with her baby strapped to her back. They both got shot, but survived and thankfully made it into the facility in time. Her boy is so little and the huge bandages on his arms break my heart. Everything about this place breaks my heart. These people all have stories which they share with me and there is just simply too much to try to grasp. Everyone has lost something, everyone has lost someone. I meet malnourished babies, mothers, fathers, widows and widowers, malaria sufferers, their eyes glazed, victims of rape and pillaging. They are all here in massive numbers, and their stories are agonizing. I meet a group of about a hundred who have selected an old man to read out on behalf of them all, their list of grievances. They have no homes and no possessions and they need others to recognize they are in crisis. I sat down with the Mai Mai, an armed community defense group that has been placed here by the government, but not paid for months. The general told me that he wants to go back to his old post but leaving this area would look like he was plotting to join another force and would essentially place a target on his head. He was surrounded by his men in green uniforms, holding their ammunition and AK 47s. It is intimidating for me to interview them and certainly against the norm for them to answer difficult questions posed by a woman. Even though their definition implies that they are allies of the government, I know that there is really no 'good' armed group in this country. I later asked a victim of rape if she felt protected by the Mai Mai or any of the military here. She simply said 'I don't trust any man wearing a uniform.'

Miller visited, among other places, Panzi Hospital where IMC is training doctors to treat severe gynecologic ruptures as a result of rapes suffered during the regions horrible wars. Sienna also provided -- via Children Mending Hearts -- hundreds of t-shirts for the children who in desperate need of clothes. The publicity surrounding the trip and her blogging should bring greater recognition to these noble organizations. You can listen to Air America Radio's Ron Reagan, who interviewed Miller on Friday here. In the interview, Sienna noted that she will never look at the pampered life on-set while filming a movie the same way again after experiencing the Congo.