Transcript
IMAN
I've always believed in life of service 'cause I was raised that way. Being a, a Somali and a Muslim, charity was part and parcel of how you lived. You always give. So I brought that with me when I came to America, 'cause also, mind you, I am a refugee. So, you know, for the grace of, uh, the non-government organizations who helped us, me and my parents, and my siblings, you know, I couldn't even be here.
Something had occurred in 2000 when I was pregnant with my daughter. I read in the New York Times, it was a, a front page article about how in Southern Africa women were transmitting AIDS through breastfeeding. It was absolutely heartbreaking. Mind you, breastfeeding in a lot of third world countries and especially Africa, it's a, it's has two ways of doing the part, one it's really the financial aspect of it, and the other is the very close maternal part of it. So to actually have a woman pass their disease with breastfeeding, to me it was unbearable. Africa needs our help desperately. Anything you can do to help us in our mission is your blessing forever. Keep A Child Alive approached me. They're like the punk rock of charities. They're small, they're effective, whatever money they raise, (STAMMERS) it goes right directly to the ground. A lot of money goes to Africa, and especially with the AIDS, uh, initiative, the whole intention for Keep A Child Alive is how to get the medication to the poor.
LEIGH BLAKE:
Keep A Child Alive's mission is to prove lifesaving AIDS drugs to as many African children and families as possible. These drugs are miracle drugs. Africans can't afford them. And Keep A Child Alive asks the public for a dollar a day to buy those drugs that keep children and families alive.
RACHEL WEISZ:
Africa is being ravaged by HIV and AIDS. It's incredibly important that people keep shining a light on what is happening there, and that's what Iman is doing.
FEMALE:
She spearheaded a star-studded fundraising campaign this fall.
RACHEL WEISZ:
The slogan is I am African, and it's to remind us that whatever color we are, whatever culture we're a part of now, we're descendants of those people
MALE:
When you think about Keeping A Child Alive, the very notion of course, reminds us that in order to keep children alive we have to keep their mothers alive.
IMAN:
In Africa now we have a pandemic. Children who are the head of households at six years old, unacceptable, unacceptable. So that is the mission of Keep A Child Alive. I am very, very grateful to Westerners who go to Africa and adopt our children. But the thing and the intention that we have at Keep A Child Alive is that we would like to keep those parents alive so that they can take care of their own children. We stand for a society that support families and their needs, not just with words but with actions.
