Keep a Child Alive

Alicia Keys and Stephen Lewis Come Together for their shared passion of the AIDS Pandemic

Alicia Keys, co-founder of Keep a Child Alive (KCA), performed at Hope Rising! on May 3rd to raise awareness and funds for the Stephen Lewis Foundation. Keep a Child Alive and the Stephen Lewis Foundation are like minded AIDS organizations, funding community based organizations run by extraordinary people on the ground who have risen to the challenge of HIV/AIDS in their community.Much like Keep a Child Alive it builds relationships with the projects of mutual trust and respect, understanding that Africans in communities are the real experts on how to turn the tide of AIDS. The Foundation believes that if community based projects are properly supported with resources, such energy and prevention and care can be unleashed and employed that the pandemic is reversed. 
Hope Rising! was the first major event that the SLF had undertaken but with great success as the Sony Theatre was sold out and performances by Alicia Keys, Angelique Kidjo, K’Naan, Rufus Wainwright, Gloria Reuben and more!

(Photo Credit: Cameron MacLennan)

The day began with a roundtable discussion from Stephen Lewis, Angelique Kidjo and Alicia Keys. It was beautiful to see these 3 warriors come together as old friends to discuss their passion for fighting the AIDS pandemic, why they admire each other and why they continue to do what they do.

Stephen Lewis beautifully describe Alicia and our work together as he said “I spend a lot of time observing celebrities and there is always a very strong sense of self-aggrandizement and self-promotion. With Alicia Keys, you get a tremendous engagement with the issue with no sense of self-promotion. Just a decent human being who cares deeply. Keep A Child Alive works in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa and now in India. I had the privilege of visiting some of the projects.”

With Alicia mentioning one project that Keep a Child Alive funds which holds a special place in her heart, “One project that I’m most proud of is called the Blue Roof Wellness Centre which the Stephen Lewis Foundation has donated over $1.1 million to…in Durban, South Africa. It was this empty shell and we had this big dream. To see it functioning, to see a place where people can go to receive treatment, receive testing, receive nourishment.

This man sat next to me and he was like, ‘I just wanted to thank you for doing all of this because I wouldn’t be here without you.’ People have said that to me before. Maybe they meant, ‘I wouldn’t be in this city.’ But this man would not be alive. That affected me so heavily.

From NOW Magazine, Alicia, Stephen and Angelique explained why they focus on the grassroots.

But your organizations focus on the grassroots for a reason.

Keys: There are no better experts than the people who are right there, who deal with the issues every day. They tell us exactly what’s needed. I’ve met so many of the leaders of these organizations. To motivate yourself to look around your neighbourhood and say, “Whoa, I have to do something,” and then organize with very little funding to create something that really functions – that’s phenomenal.

Lewis: The projects on the ground are so much more sensitive than the hotshots at the top. The focus has always been on the HIV-negative baby, for example, which is always a good thing, but then the mother who has AIDS gets lost. On the ground, they understand that. It’s only when you get to the epidemiological experts that it gets forgotten.

Kidjo: I hate experts. It’s the grassroots organizations that give the people their sense of dignity.

Alicia ended off the discussion with, “There are so many crazy statistics but these are human beings. Thirty million dead, 33 million plus infected, 16 million AIDS orphans. These are people. I think it’s ridiculous that we sit here waiting or trying to figure out how to do the right thing.”

It was a great day recognizing the partnership that two organizations have and how we continue to work together to fight for our families in Africa and India affected by AIDS.

(Photo Credit: Tom Sandler)