Actress and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Tetsuko Kuroyanagi on Friday paid her first visit to a center she helped set up in the 1990s in what is now South Sudan's capital to care for children traumatized by the Sudanese civil war.

Kuroyanagi expressed gratitude that Japanese donations had helped fund the Totto Chan Center, which was opened in Juba in 1996 and carries her nickname. The actress has been one of the most high-profile figures in Japan's entertainment scene for decades.

She led efforts to build the center in Juba after visiting the city in 1993 during Sudan's civil war. It initially opened for children traumatized by the conflict, but in recent years it has been caring for children ensnared in ethnic strife and human trafficking. The state of South Sudan was created in July 2011.