From One Humanitarian To Another

Music artists/humanitarians Alicia Keys and Wyclef Jean both received the BET (Black Entertainment Television) 2009 Humanitarian Award at this year's BET Awards show, in honor of Michael Jackson and his tireless world humanitarian efforts to developing countries.

Keys and her efforts to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa through the Keep A Child Alive foundation has gained her recognition in the world of giving back and helping others.

Jean, activist and Haitian Goodwill Ambassador, has a deep committment to help his native country of Haiti through Yele Haiti. As the founder, his mission is to assist the country and restore their pride and hope for a better future.

Jackson may have served as an inspiration to other artists all over the globe, demonstrating how to look deep inside themselves and find the courage and strength to make a change- one stuggling village at a time.

Congratulations to Keys and Jean for being selfless. Rest In Peace MJ.

Material Girl Speaks

Madonna has spoken. Though she did not bring an orphan back with her from Africa, the 48-year-old is planning to adopt a Malawian girl.

Madonna was accused of using her celebrity status to by-pass laws and speed up the process in the adoption of Malawian orphan David. Malawi officials are determined to prevent this from occurring with her next adoption.

In an interview with French magazine Paris Match, Madonna said a Malawi native contacted her soliciting help.

“She asked me for help as my fame could help focus on the problems. I started my own inquiry and I said to myself: ‘They need help!’”

Maybe this quote is the reason America does not think she is fit to be an orphan mother. She lacks genuineness.

It is obvious Madonna only agreed to help Malawi because they made her feel good about having the fame to bring attention to their orphanage.

All in Madonna's "Kool-Aid"

Madonna is making a trip back to Africa tomorrow. Will she bring back another child from Malawi?

Though she is going to Africa to visit some charities she has set up there, rumors say that she is planning to adopt another child—this time a girl—to even out her family of two boys and one girl.

Madonna’s publicist and friend Liz Rosenberg denies the gossip.

Whatever Madonna decides to do once she gets to Malawi is her decision. If she chooses to adopt, she is aware of the type of hullabaloo she will cause in the U.S.

America cannot seem to perceive Madonna as a humanitarian or a fitting adoption parent, but Angelina Jolie is this and more in their eyes.

Can Jigga Get an ENCORE!?

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Living rap legend and multimillionaire business executive Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter is one of the celebrities giving back to Africa, but in a different kind of way.

He does not focus on AIDS in Africa. He does not focus on poverty in Africa.

His focal point is the global water crisis.

Water-related diseases are the leading cause of death in the world. Carter brought this to the attention of America last year, along with other unknown facts about dehydration, in the MTV documentary “Diary of Jay-Z: Water for Life.”

Carter urged Anheuser-Busch, a leading American brewer, to support the clean water project.

While on tour last year, Carter pledged to help raise funds for the PlayPumps International (PPI) campaign “100 Pumps in 100 Days.”

Last month on World Water Day (22), the campaign was launched. Ten PlayPump water systems—an innovative pump powered by a merry-go-round—will be installed in several African nations by the end of the summer. It is just the start; of course 90 more will be installed.

PPI has donated more than 800 PlayPumps water systems in South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia. Now, they will bring clean water to nations like Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Tanzania and Uganda. Their goal is to provide up to 10 million people with the benefits of clean drinking water by 2010.

Carter has always been known to stand out and do his own thing. He is a genuine humanitarian; he saw a problem in Africa where he can find a solution to that no other celebrity is thinking of while they are too busy competing with other famous faces to fight AIDS.

A Career-changing Visit?

Rap star Paul Wall, along with music artists Tego Calderon and Raekwon, were recently featured on the VH1 Roc Docs special “Bling’d: Blood, Diamonds, and Hip-Hop,” in which they traveled to Sierra Leone, Africa, to witness first-hand the place where thousands were enslaved and killed over wealth brought on by the country’s diamonds.

Wall is well-known for his custom-made “iced-out” grills. He said diamonds and jewelry mean success, so he’s always been a fan of the two.

Their purpose for visiting Africa, I’m sure, was to educate them about what they do not see and what they fail to realize when their flossing around on stage with their shining mouth jewelry. They do not think about the damage people are doing to Africans, only cash and gluttony occupy their minds.

Wall said he loved the opportunity of seeing the diamond mines in Sierra Leone, but at the same time, “felt a lot of compassion” in his heart.

He felt compassion?

Wall uses many, many diamonds in his grill business!

Speaking like a jewelry maker, Wall said, “We have a responsibility to do our research to make sure we're buying diamonds that the miners weren't enslaved to mine. If you buy diamonds, you have a responsibility to ask questions and make sure you buy them from someone legitimate.”

It does not matter where the diamonds come from because someone, somewhere, is risking his life in a mine, working to make someone else rich.

Wall is not helping Africa. I hope his visit changed the meaning of diamonds to him.

Another One?

Oprah Winfrey opened another school in South Africa on March 16.

Seven Fountains Primary School, funded by Winfrey’s Angel Network charity, has 25 classrooms, a computer center, three multi-purpose rooms, a library, a playground, a recycled water system, two sports fields, solar power and a vegetable garden.

Winfrey first visited Seven Fountains Primary School in 2002 when it was located on a farm, and she visited in 2004 after it had been moved to an under-equipped building with no windows.

She decided that the children needed a new facility.

The $1.6 million school caters to as many as a thousand students, whereas her other South African school—Oprah’s Leadership Academy for Girls—only serves 152 students.

Is Winfrey trying to see how many schools she can build for poor South African children this year? What about poor American children over here?

How much does someone have to do to prove their humanitarianism before it crosses the line and becomes a publicity stunt?

You be the judge.

Harmless Humor AND Humanitarianism

This year’s Red Nose Day, held on March 16, has everyone talking. Multi-award-winning writer and comedian Ricky Gervais is the fresh topic for bloggers for his comic relief act on saving Africa.

In his video, he pokes fun at celebrity endorsements—how they are only concerned with promoting themselves instead of actually helping—while he stages a trip to Africa. He pretends to be in an African village shadowing one of the poor residents.

The video is posted on many websites, and yes, of course it is on www.youtube.com.

Gervais has a way of making jokes out a serious situation, but it is no more than safe humor. He is not hurting Africans, and he is only speaking truthfully about celebrities who do not have their hearts in the right place.