Alicia Keys is teaching her children to have compassion.
Alicia Keys
The 34-year-old singer, who has sons Egypt, five, and Genesis, 10 months, with music producer husband Swizz Beatz, is devoted to helping raise funds for the fight against HIV and AIDS and hopes her family will get involved in her Keep a Child Alive foundation in the future.
She said: "Now that I'm a mom, I realise we also have to talk to our kids about having compassion for people infected or affected by AIDS."
The 'Girl on Fire' hitmaker decided to co-found her own charity after visiting South Africa near the beginning of her career, where she visited clinics where mothers had babies battling the life-threatening disease.
She told PEOPLE: "They just wanted medicine to keep them alive. It thought, 'How can something be available, but you can't have it because you're poor?' That's why I co-founded Keep a Child Alive, and we started the annual Black Ball fundraiser."
The singer believes she is making a huge impact and has helped a lot of people.
She explained: "About a decade ago I met a young girl who had lost both of her parents. A few years ago she interviewed me at a radio station in South Africa. I was bursting with pride. Because of the support of Keep a Child Alive she is going to be such a powerful force in society. My dream is to know that we have created an AIDS-free generation."
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